ALASKA - continued 
Wnen the breeding population survey was flown on the 
Yukon Delta May 31 the brant had not yet arrived on their breeding 
ground. On July 2 Refuge Supervisor Spencer and Game Management 
Agent.Tremblay again flew a rather a mai reconnaissance 
of the brant breeding grounds. 
Within the brant area, a calculated 42 square miles of 
transect was sampled (1.4 hours at 120 mph--168 miles of 1/4 mile 
strip). Eighty-nine hundred (8900) brant including young were 
recorded or approximately 210 per square mile. 
The brant nesting area was estimated as comprising a strip 
three (3) miles in width, approximately 135 miles long or about 400 
square miles. This resulted in a calculated population of 84,000 or 
considering likely errors = {Q-100,000. 
A planimeter measurement of the probably area indicates the 
brant nesting area to be closer to 250 square miles than 400. ‘This 
would place the minimum population at about 50,000. 
Number of young were recorded for 126 brant broods with an 
average of 2.8. 
Conclusions 
In summary, the duck production forecast from Alaska is 
excellent, ee the best outlook in the past five years at 
- deast. 
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