WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN ALASKA - 1954 
Urban C. Nelson, Robert F. Scott and 
John L. Buckley 
Introduction 
Counts of waterfowl from aircraft flying sample transects over some of the 
known important Alaska breeding grounds have been made by Fish and Wildlife 
Service personnel in Alaska since 1949, The location, intensity, and adequacy of 
these samples have been modified each year by elimination of low production and 
remote areas, concentration on the more important waterfowl species, stratifying 
areas of similar production, and reducing the sampling error. 
Production studies and banding activity were increased this year. John L. 
Buckley and Robert G. Kirkpatrick of the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit 
continued work in the Minto Lakes area. Calvin J. Lensink returned for the second 
season on the Fort Yukon flats. Refuge personnel Russel R. Hoffman, David C. 
Hooper, and James Peterson worked on the Yukon Delta, Innoko R ver and Lake 
Louise areas, Federal Aid biologist Sigurd T. Olson returned to the Copper River 
Delta for the third year, 
Sampling Methods and Area Covered 
esis ag Main wadveenabas tes Wee teel ee arene ce 
Aerial Surveys in 1954 of waterfowl breeding populations were designed to 
obtain a stratified random sample of the major breeding grounds south of the Brooks 
Range. The Seward Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, and Southeastern Alaska were 
entirely omitted, and surveys were generally restricted to areas within which 
breeding densities wereestimated at one pair per square mile or greater. Areas . 
surveyed were combined into six strata, with sampling intensities jointly proportional 
to the relative area and the variance previously experienced in each stratum. 
Sampling intensity averaged 0.2 percent for all strata. 
Transects were 1/4 mile wide and 16 miles long. A total of 3088 linear miles 
of transect were flown, by six different crews, between May 25 and June 14. Only 
"same" ducks were counted, and the tally was designed to inventory breeding pairs. 
Single ducks of either sex were recorded as one pair, and flocks of eleven or more 
were disregarded unless obviously paired. Lone drakes were not recorded ina 
manner to permit separate treatment of this segment of the population. Abundance 
of water areas is not a seriously variable factor on Alaskan breeding grounds and 
no water data were recorded on the transects. 
Field work on the Innoko River, Lake Louise and Copper R ver areas con- 
centrated on banding activity while work on the Minto Lakes, Fort Yukon Delta areas 
was concerned with both banding and production studies. More ducks were banded 
than in any previous year in Alaska. Some progress was made in the use of nets 
and traps for capturing waterfowl particularly on Minto Lakes and at Fort Yukon, 
however, further improvement in capturing technique will be required before banding 
can be undertaken on a large enough scale at reasonable cost to yield significant 
mortality data. 
