
45 
WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY -SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, 
1955 
John J. Lynch 
1955 proved to be a record year for waterfowl in Southern Saskatchewan. 
Abundant surface water attracted a fine nesting population this spring, and 
subsequent favorable weather enabled these breeders to produce a superb crop of 
ducklings. 
For regulatory purposes, we have to appraise at stated intervals 
the annual waterfowl hatch, long before the "Duck Crop" has actually material- 
ized. Such appraisal is made by means of Province-wide aerial surveys, and by 
analysis of weather records. This year our earliest 'Crop Report'' (May 10) is 
based largely on weather records. Our June 10 "Forecast" (issued for the 
benefit of Canadian Wildlife Administrators) is based on coverage of 5,000 miles 
of air transects by U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pilot V. C. Conover with 
Saskatchewan Game Branch Observer William Hyska, Fish and Wildlife Service 
Blot Charles Evans with Canadian Wildlife Service Observer Nolan Perret, and 
Pilot John Lynch with Observer Maurice Lundy, both of the Fish and Wildlife 
Service. Our July 25 "Forecast" is based on re-coverage of this air transect 
pattern by Fish and Wildlife Service Pilot Joe Matlock with Observer Hyska, and 
Fish and Wildlife Service Pilot Don Smith with Observer Perret. Special air 
operations were conducted by Fish and Wildlife Service Pilots Walter Crissey, 
Fred Glover, and Robert H. Smith. 
Early-Season Prospects 
A waterfowl ''Crop Report"is a statement of conditions prevailing at 
a piven time, whereas a "Crop Forecast" is a calculated extension of current 
prospects. Our first appraisal of edch season's prospects usually amounts toa 
"Crop Report'', based solely on the weather and surface water conditions at the 
start of nesting. This year, however, the early season weather and water 
picture was so favorable that we were moved to forecast, on May 10, "a superla- 
tive duck crop for Southern Saskatchewan in 1955." 
The prairie region of the Province had a very wet year in 1954, Fall 
rains were much above normal, especially in the parklands, so that soils were 
well saturated when winter snows arrived. While these snows were not especially 
heavy during the past winter, run-off in spring of 1955 was excellent. After 
April 1, a series of weather disturbances tracked across the Great Plains of the 
United States. These storms, with their characteristic counter-clockwise 
circulation, pulled great streams of moist air northward from the Gulf of Mexico. 
As this moist air over-ran the cool Canadian prairies, periodic rains drenched 
the waterfowl nesting grounds. By the time we started our May surveys, southern 
Saskatchewan was as well watered as it has been in recent history. 
