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Goose Survey 
This year for the first time an aerial reconnaissance was made of 
all major goose producing areas in the State. The primary objective was to 
determine the relative importance of each area by making breeding pair counts. 
Counts were taken from light planes and each area was covered 
thoroughly. In some areas it was possible to tally birds as pairs, singles and 
groups. When heavy nesting concentrations were encountered it was not possible 
to make this breakdown and the pairs were counted, singles were counted as pairs 
and groups were recorded as such. The results of the counts are given in Table I. 
In this table the "pairs"! column includes the singles recorded as pairs. 
Goose Nesting Study 
Canada goose nesting surveys were continued in several areas of the 
State. In some localities this makes the: fourth year in which comparable data has 
been gathered. Survey methods are similar in all areas and consist of one search 
to locate nests and one re-check to determine nest success. The degree of coverage 
varies somewhat in each area but it is believed that from 85-100 percent of the 
nests are located in this manner. The results of this year's survey are given in 
Table II. 
A comparison of the estimated goose production from these areas 
based on the nesting studies is given in Table III]. These production figures do not 
indicate total estimated production. They show population trends based on the. 
number and hatching success of nests found on the same areas covered in the same 
manner each year. On this basis, the estimated production on four areas with 
trend data for four years is down approximately 30 percent. The greatest production 
declines were noted in the Homedale and Island Park areas. The big decline in 
the Homedale unit was due primarily to fewer nests being found, with a lower nest 
success than last year also contributing to the reduction. Several snow storms in 
late May seriously affected the hatch in Island Park with a corresponding drop in 
this year's goose crop. The estimated production on the four areas with the 
longest nesting records was just slightly above that of 1952, the first year of the 
study. 
Brood Trend Routes 
Duck brood production trend routes were run in Districts 4 and 5. 
These routes were covered in early July and all broods recorded. In late July 
they were run again and only Class I broods were counted. The results of this 
year's counts and comparisons with previous counts are given in Tables IV. and 
VI. Ibis believed that the decline in the number of broods counted in District 5 
this year was partially due to the delay in duck nesting. No doubt a number of 
nests were brought off after the second count since 82 percent of all broods recorded 
