(246 
Lower Twin Lake, Kittson County; Goose Lake, Pennington County; Canvasback 
Pothole and Warren Lake, Mahnomen County; and the pothole study area in 
Mahnomen and Polk Counties. A total of 126 Class "A" broods, totaling 901 young 
was tallied, giving an average brood size of 7.2. In 1951, 122 Class "A" broods 
averaged 7.6. Hatching began quite early with several large broods observed the 
last week in May. Weather conditions for the most part were considered good. 
Exceptionally dry weather in April and May caused some potholes to dry up, but 
several rains in the latter half of June brought water levels up to nearly normal. 
It is believed that the June rains in this area were not severe enough to cause 
flooding of nests. The dry conditions may have had some effect on broods on the 
smaller potholes, but should not have materially effected production on the more 
permanent areas. However, this year only 62 broods were seen on 5 areas’ 
compared with 130 broods last year. Thief Lake had more broods, but a sharp 
drop was noted on the other four. Thus, these counts showed production to be — 
down about 50 percent unless a late hatch occurred, and the brood data point to a 
continuation of hatching after the time of the counts. When all the brood data 
collected from July 5 to July 10 are examined, the distribution by age class is as 
follows: Class I, 70 broods; Class II, 40 broods; Class III, 17 broods. The 
predominance of Class I broods indicates that considerable hatching was occurring 
at the time of the counts. A visit to Twin Lakes, Kittson County, during the last 
week of July revealed some Class [ and many Class II broods that probably were 
not hatched at the time of the brood count on July 8. The number of blue-winged 
teal broods was down somewhat this year. 
Area V - Norman J. Ordal, Fergus Falls - Ground transects totaling 276 miles 
were run in Area V from May 9 to May 14. At this time the area was undergoing 
adry period. Most of the temporary, or D Areas, had been eliminated by the 
drought and some of those recorded in this classification were almost dry. The 
summary of transect data shows that there were 4.12 water areas per square mile 
compared with 5.66 last year. Occupancy was 28.9 percent compared with 13.3 
percent last year. The number of pairs per square mile was 2.1 in 1952 and 
1.31 in 1951. An increase was also shown in the number of ducks per square mile 
which was 4.15 compared with 3:02. General impressions on spring breeding 
populations are that blue-winged teal are somewhat more. numerous this year and 
pintails have shown a marked increase. Mallards are about the same or somewhat 
more numerous. Redheads appear to be less numerous although the survey shows 
an increase. Brood counts were made on potholes of Becker, Otter Tail, Grant, 
and Douglas Counties and on one large lake - Lightening Lake, Otter Tail County. 
A total of 61 Class "A'' broods, containing 500 young, was tallied, giving an average 
of 8.2 young per brood. The 1951 average for this area was 8.5 and for 1950 it was 
7.7. The broods were distributed by age class as follows: Class I, 20 broods; 
Class II, 31 broods; Class III, 10 broods. The average size for all classes was 
8.2 indicating a successful hatching season. The count on selected areas was lower 
than last year. The most striking example was Lightening Lake, on which more than 
12 broods of various species were recorded in 1951, while only one brood was 
observed with the same coverage in 1952. Similar but less drastic decreases pre- 
vailed on Bergerud and Halvorson Ponds and other areas. It was judged that these 
decreases on specific areas could be attributed to a considerable extent to higher 
prevailing water levels, caused in part by the heavy rainfall in late June and early 
July. The Area V Biologist expressed his opinion of waterfowl production success 
in his area as follows: In view of the fact that breeding pairs were more numerous, 
the nesting season was favorable, and brood sizes were comparatively large; water- 
fowl production in Area V in 1952 will be, in my opinion relatively high and 
comparable to but somewhat higher than in 1951. 
