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AERIAL WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY IN ALBERTA - 1954 
Allan G. Smith and G. Hortin Jensen 
Introduction 
The 1954 Alberta waterfowl survey was conducted with the following 
objectives in mind: (1) to supply the Waterfowl Regulations Committee of Canada 
and the United States with forecasts of the production and fall flights of waterfowl; 
(2) through intensive ground surveys to provide basic ecological information for 
better interpretation of data obtained from extensive aerial surveys, and to provide 
a better understanding of the mechanics of producing waterfow; and (3) to band a 
representative sample of young waterfowl prior to the opening of the waterfowl 
season for the purpose of obtaining information on hunting pressures, mortality 
rates, and distribution. 
Aerial breeding pair and brood surveys were flown with a Cessna 170, 
piloted by G. H. Jensen, with Allen G. Smith acting as observer. Clinton Lostetter, 
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, participated in both aerial and ground phases of the 
waterfowl survey in the month of May. Ground studies as well as comparative air- 
ground breeding pair and brood surveys were conducted on the same four intensive 
study areas that were set up in 1953. The personnel and areas involved are listed 
below: 
Area 1 - (Brooks-Suffield) - Mr. Fred Sharp, Ducks Unlimited (Canada) 
Area 2 ~- (Strathmore) - Mr. George Freeman, Ducks Unlimited (Canada) 
Area 3 - (Lousana) - Messrs. Wayne H. Heuer, U. S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service and Dennis Weisser, Alberta Game Branch, 
Area 4 - (Vermilion) - Messrs. Harry Webster and David Hurst, 
Canadian Wildlife Service. 
Two banding crews were organized in July and were composed of the 
following men: Messrs. Kenard Baer, James Birch, Clinton Lostetter, U. S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Harold Boeker, Willis Mansfield, Colorado Game and Fish 
Commission, Monte Dodson, Oklahoma Game and Fish Commission and George 
Wrakestraw, Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. Banding was also carried on 
by the crews of Areas 3 and 4, 
Survey Methods 
Breeding pair andproduction indices were obtained for the province of 
Alberta by means of aerial surveys. Methods of observation were the Same as out- 
lined in Waterfowl Populations and Breeding Conditions, Summer 1952; Special 
Scientific Report: Wildlife No. 21, with the exception that a dictaphone was utilized 
for recording transect data ‘in flight.' This has served one very useful purpose, 
the further refining of our population and production indices. It became possible to 
identify and record all of the minor species which in other years were relegated toa 
miscellaneous category, because of the time element involved in making the 
observation and writing them on an appropriate form. 

