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WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN MINNESOTA 
Forrest B. Lee 
Spring Migration, Weather, and Water Conditions 
a 
The first reported arrival of migrant waterfowl was a group of twenty lesser 
Scaup observed near Worthington on February 27. The last five days of February 
were dry and mild and there was some alternate freezing and thawing in the southern 
counties. March was considerably colder and somewhat wetter than usual. Unusually 
heavy snows on March 22 and 23 in the extreme southern counties resulted in near 
blizzard conditions. The period from March 23 to 27 was unseasonably cold over the 
State. The closing days of March were warm and in the southern counties, snow 
cover was reduced to patches and there was much water standing on fields. Several 
observations of waterfowl were made in the southern half of the State from March 25 
to 31. These reports were of mallards, pintails, Canada geese, lesser scaup, 
whistling swan and goldeneyes. April was considerably warmer and much drier than 
usual. The first half of the month was rather cool but the latter half was unseasonably 
warm, especially the last five days when mid-summer temperatures were recorded. 
Aside from April 8, 9 and 21 when precipitation was quite general, exceedingly dry 
weather prevailed during most of the month. The Area X Biologist observed the first 
striped ground squirrel on the 9th and the first blooming pasque flower on April 25. 
Weather was ideal during the third week of the month for drying fields and for starting 
the growth of vegetation. Seeding of small grains was quite general by April 19. 
Severe flooding of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers occurred. from April 13 to 20, 
the crest reaching St. Paul on April 16. Rain was badly needed near the close of the 
month, especially in northern Minnesota, where forest and brush fires were reported. 
The high temperature record for the State for April, 96° F. , was recorded at Hallock 
on April 27 and Winona on April 30. 
Most of the ice left the lakes in the southern part of Minnesota from April 15 to 
20. Some of the more northern lakes did not open up completely until about April 27. 
The bulk of the spring migration, including mallards, pintails, lesser scaup 
and Canada geese, was passing through the southern half of the State from April 8-16. 
Blue-winged teal were a little later being present in good numbers from April 18-20 on, 
After April 16, waterfowl were observed in good numbers in most parts of the State and 
much of the migration appeared to have passed on north by the warm days of April 26-30. 
During the closing days of the month, resident waterfowl were moving to the small water 
areas and occupying their territories. The unusually warm weather that characterized 
the closing days of April continued to May 5, Thereafter, cool weather prevailed during 
most of the remainder of May, which was much drier than usual. Light snows occurred 
on May 27, 28, and 29 in such northern counties as Roseau, Koochiching and St. Louis 
and light frosts occurred on May 29 in extreme southern counties. The aerial, auto, and 
canoe transects of the spring breeding ground survey were begun on May 5, or shortly 
thereafter. June was considerably wetter than usual and the month was characterized by 
frequent thunderstorms. While there was a large deficiency in precipitation in some 
northwest counties such as Marshall and Kittson, moderate to large excesses were 
recorded elsewhere. Severe thunderstorms occurred on June 7 in the Iron Range and 
Duluth areas and on June 12 and 13 in northern and east central counties. Heavy rains 
from June 20 to 23 caused some flooding in southeast Minnesota and tornadoes and 
