
197 
WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN NEBRASKA, 1955 
Harvey W. Miller 
Introduction 
A waterfowl breeding ground survey has been conducted in Nebraska 
for the eighth consecutive year. The purpose of the survey is to provide indices 
to the waterfowl population through measuring trends in breeding numbers and 
production success. All data presented were gathered by the writer except where 
noted, 
Method of Sampling and Area Covered 
The major waterfowl breeding grounds of Nebraska were found in the 
sandhills region. As in past surveys, the counties located within this region were 
used as the study area. To improve the reliability of the data, this region was 
divided by the somewhat different habitat types into the eastern central, and 
western sandhills. These areas were then further divided into sections of relatively 
abundant and relatively scarce waterfowl habitat with different sampling rates 
applied to each. 
Aerial transects, selected at random, were then flown over each area. 
Only observed ducks were recorded by two observers along a one-fourth mile wide 
strip. Observations were made from 100-150 feet of altitude using aGessna 170 
airplane which cruised at calculated ground speeds of 90 to 105 miles per hour. 
Immediately following: the aerial surveys, ground counts were made 
along roads through representative parts of each area. Data from these counts 
were used to determine the species composition, lone male-pair ratio, and the 
non-breeding-breeding duck ratio. 
Weather and Water Conditions 
Drought conditions prevailed over the sandhills during late 1954 and 
until June, 1955. Unseasonably warm temperatures and high winds were general 
during the spring and several dust storms occurred over the area. . 
A cool, rainy period during early June brought the rainfall total to 
near normal for that time and temporarily relieved the drought conditions. From 
mid-June until mid-October, rain fell in only localized areas with drought con- 
ditions becoming critical over the remainder of the sandhills. 
These conditions resulted in a very severe dry up of waterfowl habitat 
in the eastern sandhills. While no habitat data has been recorded during the 
aerial surveys, it was estimated that approximately 80 percent of the water areas 
present in 1954 were gone at the time of the 1955 surveys. This loss included 
