45 
WATERFOWL BREEDING GROUND SURVEY, SASKATCHEWAN- 1954 
J. B. Gollop and J. J. Lynch 
Introduction 
This report covers the aerial phase ot the waterfowl breeding ground survey 
in that part of Saskatchewan lying south of 54° N and a summary of the achievements 
of the banding crew for 1954. Reports covering northern Saskatchewan and special 
ground study areas are to be found elsewhere in this report. 
Methods, Personnel and Equipment 
The system of strata and transects used in the aerial surveys in 1954 is 
practically the same as that figured in the 1952 report. The one-quarter mile wide 
strip for breeding pairs and one-eighth mile wide strip for broods was again used, 
The status of the breeding pair population was determined between May 10 
and 20 by flying the 5000 mile pattern of air transects which sample 114,000 square 
miles of southern Saskatchewan. These were completely covered again between 
July 9 and 20 in making the brood survey. Special coverages were given parts of the 
pattern in late May, late July and early August as well as the ground study areas in 
May and July. Pilots Ross Hanson, John Lynch, Charles Evans and Vern Conover, 
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, logged nearly 500 air-hours in three Piper PA-18 
aircraft while flying more than 45,000 linear miles on these surveys. Observers 
were William Hyska, Saskatchewan Game Branch, Wes Newcomb and Marshall 
Stinnett, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Nolan Perret, Canadian Wildlife 
Service. 
Weather and Water Conditions 
1953 and 1954 aerial index figures for May and July ponds by strata are 
given in Table lL. 
Saskatchewan had a dry fall in 1953, fallaowed by a winter of almost normal 
snow and a spring with poor run-off. Dry surface soils robbed sloughs of snow water 
including that resulting from unseasonable April-May snows. From mid-May on, 
however, precipitation occurred in above normal amounts halting the drying trend in 
most of the western grasslands and inundating the parklands to the east and north. 
Surface water during the May survey compared as follows with the previous year: 
se ee ee 
* waterfowl Populations and Breeding Conditions Summer 1952, Special 
Scientific Report: Wildlife No. 2l. 
