Weather and Water Conditions 
Exceptional run-off, high residual waters from 1953 and above normal 
rainfall during the spring and summer combined to push lake Manitoba water levels 
above the 814 foot mark by mid-July. This is two feet above normal lake level and 
about one foot above levels of last year. Water levels of this magnitude were last 
reached in 1923. 
Because of direct connections between lake and marsh, marsh waters were 
also high. This resulted in the loss through flooding of diving duck nests, the dis- 
persal of nesting diving ducks into areas heretofore used only by puddlers, an 
increase in the number of puddlers nesting on outlying farmlands, and the dispersal 
of molting ducks over a greatly expanded marsh area. 
As a result of a cold, damp spring and continued summer inclemency, the 
waterfowl cycle at Delta was from ten days to two weeks later than that of 1953. 
Population Trends 
Table I provides a statement of the results obtained from the 1954 surveys 
and a basis for comparison with other years for which aerial data are available. All 
the surveys represented were not conducted in the same manner but, to my knowledge, 
they represent a 100 percent estimate of the waterfowl population at a given time and 
Over approximately the same area. 
Table I. - Delta Marsh Population Trends. 
1947 1948 1949 1953 1954 
Date Tot.wtfl. Date Tot.wtfl. Date Tot. wtfl. Date Tot. wtfl. Date Tot. wtfl. 
4/25 300 5/1-15 4000 5/4 4000 4/3 200 5/28 5420 
5/29 1000 5A5-31 2000 5/27 6300 4/19 10000 5/30 5712 
6/12 2800 6/6 2264 6/10 2718 4/21 2000 6/10 6784 
6/13 3000 6/11 3316 5/15 5100 6/18 4160 
6/23 4300 6/17 3420 , 5/24 4900 6/26 3904 
7/25 8300 6/30 3856 6/2 2800 7/8 11136 
8/25 17145 7/19 6776 WT 2232 7/17 7408 
9/1 37500 . 7/18 3356 7/24 12352 
9/9 39500 g/2 5649 7/31 10312 
8/19 14716 8/7 14912 
8/26 18040 8/14 7144 
9/2 35704 8/16 9872 
8/19 9824 
8/25 12008 
8/29 16312 
9/3 22544 
93 
