
47 
Summary of the 1955 Season 
The 1955 waterfowl nesting season on southern Saskatchewan was 
outstanding, largely because of exceptionally favorable weather. At the start 
of this season, all of the prairie and parkland regions of the Province were in 
excellent condition, thanks to heavy fall rains in 1954, and good run-off in the 
spring of 1955. A very substantial nesting population was attracted by super- 
abundant surface water this spring. Periodic rains during May and June 
maintained the water supply, and so hampered farming operations that many 
stubblefield nesting ducks were able to bring off broods from their first nesting 
attempt. 
Weather during the remainder of the nesting and rearing season 
continued to be most favorable, with rains that were not only ample, but of an 
unusual type. It might be mentioned here that southern Saskatchewan is almost 
semi-arid. While summer is considered to be the "rainy season", it is also the 
season of greatest water loss thru evaporation and transpiration. Summer rains 
ordinarily consist of sporadic, localized downpours from air-mass thunder- 
storms, and the dry periods between deluges quickly dissipate surface water, 
just at the season when waterfowl broods need it the most. 
Rains during the summer of 1955 were associated with definite 
weather systems, rather than isolated thunderstorms, and so were widespread 
and prolonged. Cloud cover and moist winds kept evaporation to a minimum, and 
for once, Saskatchewan ended the summer with almost as much water (pond index 
3,700,000 in July, 1955) as it had in spring (4,000,000 pond index in May). 
There was no important interruption in the 1955 nesting. This was 
in marked contrast to the past two seasons. In 1953, a cold wave with heavy 
snow and freezing temperatures occurred in mid-May, just at the peak of early 
nesting. Again in 1954, a severe cold wave started late in April and persisted 
thruout the first two weeks. in May, greatly delaying the start of nesting. 
Heretofore we considered the 1952 season to be the best in recent 
records for Saskatchewan. That season was outstanding largely because of the 
overwhelming success of the first nesting of pintails in the grasslands. Production 
in the parklands was fair to good in 1952, but not exceptional. Late nesting and 
renesting was only of moderate strength that year, and the water index in July 
of 1952 was only 850,000, a considerable reduction from the May, 1952 pond 
figure of 2, 300, 000. 
The 1955 season, on the other hand, featured production that was 
very good to excellent all over the prairies and parklands of Saskatchewan. A 
fine early hatch developed in agricultural portions of the grasslands. A good 
early hatch, plus an exceptional later nesting (and renesting) was indicated for 
the hilly grazing country in the grasslands. The season's total production in the 
parklands was unusually heavy, thanks to persistent renesting that compensated 
for earlier nest predation. All of this was made possible by a most fortuitous 
sequence of weather patterns. Insofar as weather was concerned, 1955 was 
"the perfect year" for waterfowl in southern Saskatchewan. 
