26 
AERIAL WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY - ALBERTA, 1955 
Allen G. Smith and G. Hortin Jensen 
Introduction 
The 1955 Alberta waterfowl survey was conducted with the following 
objectives in mind: (1) to supply the Waterfowl Regulations Committees of 
Canada and the United States with forecasts of the production and fall flights of 
waterfowl; (2) through intensive ground surveys to provide basic ecological informa- 
tion for better interpretation of data obtained from extensive aerial surveys, and 
to provide a better understamnling of the mechanics of producing waterfowl; and (3) 
to band a representative sample of young waterfowl prior to the opening of the 
waterfowl season for the purpose of obtaining information on hunting pressures, 
mortality rates, and distribution. 
Aerial breeding pair and brood surveys were flown with a Cessna 170, 
piloted by G. H. Jensen, with Allen G. Smith acting as observer. Ground studies 
as well as comparative air-ground breeding pair and brood surveys were conducted 
on the same four intensive study areas that were set up in 1953. The personnel 
and areas involved are listed below: 
Area l, - (Brooks -Suffield) - Fred Sharp, Ducks Unlimited (Canada) 
Area 2, - (Strathmore) - George Freeman, Ducks Unlimited (Canada) 
Area 3.- (Lousana) - Kenneth Diem, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
and John Stelfox, Alberta Game Branch. 
Area 4.- (Vermilion) - Harry Webster, Robert Harris and Ralph Orvis, 
Canadian Wildlife Service. 
Two regular banding crews were organized and began operations in 
early July. They were composed of the following men: W. Ashton Brann, James 
Birch and Richard Droll of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Roger Schmitke, 
and Charles Jenkins of the Alberta Game Branch, Robert Holland, Wisconsin 
Fish and Game Department, Thomas Berkley and James Sieh, Iowa Fish and Game 
Department, and A. E. Naylor, California Fish and Game Department. Banding 
was also carried on by the crew of Study Area 4 and to a limited extent by those 
on Area 3. 
Survey Methods 
Breeding pair and production indices were obtained for the Province 
of Alberta by means of aerial surveys. Methods of observation were the same as 
outlined in Waterfowl Populations and Breeding Conditions, Special Scientific 
Report No. 27 with a few exceptions. Information relative to weather (winds, 
clouds and/or precipitation), ground speed and time were kept for each ten minute 
segment (18 miles) of each aerial transect during both breeding pair and brood 
surveys. A further breakdown of birds into pairs, single drakes, flocked drakes 
and flocked birds of mixed sexes was also kept in each segment, 
