138 
New Brunswick should be discontinued during the brood survey as waterfowl populations 
in this type of habitat are not sufficient toyield reliable data. More time should be 
spent in intensifying the coverage of areas where air coverage has proven successful. 
In this report, only the results of aerial coverage have been used for comparison 
of annual trends, while ground studies have furnished data on brood sizes and numbers. 
Weather and Water Conditions 
The spring was about a week late after a fairly mild winter. The spring break-ip 
was correspondingly retarded. 
Although March started with unusually high temperatures, it ended with cold 
weather which persisted until about the third week of April. 
On the whole, the spring was cold and backward and, in its early period, exception- 
ally dry. During the latter half of May the amount of precipitation rose preatly and 
many areas experienced very high rainfall causing totals for the month in both New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia to average 30 percent above normal, some areas 
experiencing 100 percent excess. In Prince Edward Island, the excess was about 
15 percent. 
During June, precipitation varied greatly throughout the region ranging from 
definiciencies of 90 and 60 percent in eastern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island 
respectively to excesses of 150 percent in the southern half of New Brunswick and 
western Nova Scotia. 
In July, again, precipitation varied greatly and was showery in nature, varying 
from 80 percent above normal in western New Brunswick and 100 percent in western 
Nova Scotia. Other parts of Nova Scotia showed a decrease of 40 percent while 
Prince Edward Island had an excess of about 50 percent. 
Spring migration started at the normal time but the backward weather apparently 
caused large numbers of geese and brant to stay longer than usual. 
There is evidence that the unusually high precipiation in some areas caused 
considerable local nesting loss. The nesting season in general was delayed and 
protracted. Broods of black ducks were observed in southern Nova Scotia by the 
U. S. Aerial Team on May 12, an average date. A brood of black ducks about one 
week old was observed in the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border area on August 20 
and young flightless black ducks and pintails were banded in late August and early 
September. The main hatch of these two species was apparently a-wing in early 
August, however. 
Late nesting species such as the blue-winged teal and ring-necked appear to 
have suff2red heavy loss in the lower Saint John River area. 
