INTRODUCTION 
Included in this report are the results of three major surveys to determine 
current waterfowl conditions. These are (1) a survey during the 1953-54 shooting 
season to determine the kill of waterfowl and to evaluate the effect of regulations 
on kill; (2) a survey of waterfowl wintering grounds during January 1954 to 
determine the distribution and relative number of birds remaining after the 
shooting season; and (3) a breeding population and production survey conducted 
during the current spring and summer for the purpose of forecasting any changes 
which may occur in the relative size of the fall flight in each Flyway. These data 
are brought together here for the purpose of supplying administrators with a 
factual basis for setting the shooting regulations for the 1954-55 season, and for 
other management purposes. 
Inasmuch as waterfowl management within the United States is on the basis 
of four flyways, this report is organized accordingly. In doing this, the Flyways 
have arbitrarily been extended beyond the limits of the United States to include 
the breeding and wintering areas most closely associated with each Flyway. 
Thus, for winter surveys, Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta and western Mexico 
have been considered with the Pacific Flyway States; Saskatchewan, eastern and 
central Mexico with the Central Flyway; Manitoba and Ontario with the 
Mississippi Flyway; and Quebec, Newfoundland, The Maritimes, and the West 
Indies with the Atlantic Flyway, Similarly, in summarizing data from the 
breeding grounds, it has been assumed that birds from Alaska, Northwest 
Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan are important to the 
Pacific Flyway hunters; that these same areas excepting Alaska and British 
Columbia supply birds to the Central Flyway; that birds from northern Alberta, 
Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and western Ontario move 
through the Mississippi Flyway; and that northern and southern Canada from 
Saskatchewan to Newfoundland supply waterfowl to the Atlantic Flyway. 
It will be noticed that most of the breeding areas supply birds to two or 
more Flyways. Although banding information has indicated in a general way 
the connection between the various breeding areas and the four Flyways, 
information is lacking concerning the number of birds which move from each 
breeding area to the Flyways. Changes in the banding program are necessary 
before this information can be obtained. These changes have been made, and 
an enlarged banding program is underway at the present time across southern 
Canada and in several of the northern States. Twelve States have supplied men 
to the cooperative banding crews operating in Canada this year for the first 
time. Information should be forthcoming in the near future which will allow 
for a division of the breeding pair and production index figures into the 
portions affecting each of the four Flyways. With this information, forecasts 
of changes in the relative size of the fall flights in each Flyway should become 
more precise. 
