Table III - Adjusted or Indicated Waterfowl Population - 1952 * 
Total Ducks Ducks per Total Ducks Total Ducks’ Population 

Observed Sq. Mi. Indicated Indicated Index 
Per Sq. Mi. 
Strata A 13,316 27.45 21,055 43.73 965,908 
Strata B 6,124 17.56 9,584 27.49 717, 489 
Strata C 2,714 16, 43 4,334 26.24 422,779 
Province 20.67 32.76 2,106,176 
* Lone males credited with female. 
Success of the Season - Aerial Data 
The 1952 breeding season began with an observed 21.4 percent increase 
in the breeding stock over that present in 1951. These birds succeeded in bringing 
off an excellent first hatch, which registered an 86.7 percent increase in broods 
observed this year. On Stratas A and C, which together composed the prairie in 
our former reports, an average of 1.80 broods per square mile were observed in 
1951. This year, Strata C which makes up the dry southern prairie, had 4.0 
broods per square mile, and Strata A, the more moist prairie of central Alberta 
registered 5.1 broods per square mile, an average of 4.6 broods per square mile. 
This means that for the second year an outstanding increase in production has 
occurred on the prairies. In 1951 this increase was 211 percent over that of the 
drought year 1950, while in 1952 it becomes a 157.9 percent increase over the 
1951 figure. In the parklands, where observations from a plane are poor as 
compared to the open prairie, the ability to see broods each year varies with the 
density of the emergent vegetation. Last year, emergent vegetation was sparse 
because of the recent flooding of formerlydry potholes. This year, the second 
successive one of high water levels, the vegetation had established itself to a 
degree where the bulk of the smaller areas were completely choked and brood 
observation was very difficult from the air. In spite of this fact, we still found 
an increase from 2,37 broods per square mile to 2.55 broods per square mile or 
an upward trend of 7.6 percent. 
The drought years (1949-1950) led to a severe decline in the population 
of pintails on the Alberta prairies. The pintail, primarily a prairie nesting bird, 
does not appear to be able to adjust itself to nesting in forested areas as does the 
mallard. Therefore, a decline in pintail numbers occurred in 1949 and 1950 which 
saw the rise of the mallard to a predominance which made it the most common 
waterfowl species in the Province. As shown in Table VI, 1952 marks the return 
of the pintail to its former prominence as a major factor in Alberta waterfowl 
production. 
