
in these Provinces in 1962 and 1963 by the 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Itis 
expected that this experimental work will be 
the foundation for operational surveys in 
Quebec and Labrador in the future. 
The breeding ground surveys are coopera- 
tive. The Bureau ofSport Fisheries and Wild- 
life, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the 
Provincial game branches, Ducks Unlimited, 
and the State conservation departments com- 
bine their equipment and manpower to con- 
duct the necessary surveys throughout the 
vast extent of the waterfowl breeding range. 
Sections D, E, and F ofthe appendix contain 
tables which summarize the annual breeding 
ground surveys. 
BANDING 
Data supplied by Aelred D, Geis, 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 
Banding is an important source of informa- 
tion which is essential to the proper manage- 
ment of the waterfowl resource, In recent 
years cooperative banding programs have 
been established with specific management 
objectives in mind. Currently the major 
banding effort is directed toward prehunting 
season banding, wood duck banding, winter 
banding, and the banding of flightless young 
on the breeding grounds. The objectives and 
current progress of these programs will be 
briefly summarized, 
PRESEASON BANDING 
Prehunting-season bandings provide the 
most precise measure of the shooting pres- 
sure to which each age and sex component of 
the prehunting season population is subjected, 
In order to obtain adequate banded samples 
from the prehunting season population, a 
number of preseason banding stations have 
been established across northern United 
States and Canada. The emphasis has been 
directed toward mallard and black duck band- 
ing. Recoveries from these bandings not only 
provide the best estimate of changes in the 
annual rate of kill, they also provide informa- 
tion on the annual survival, the importance of 
hunting as a mortality factor, the effect of 
changes in hunting regulations, and can be 
used in conjunction with kill survey and wing 
survey information to make population esti- 
mates. 
In the late summer and fall of 1962 about 
30,000 mallards and black ducks were banded. 
Recovery rates of the larger banded samples, 
along with comparable rates from previous 
years, are presented in table G-1 (p. 160) 
Mallard recovery rates from the Central 
Flyway stations showed a pronounced drop, 
indicating a reduced kill in 1962. Mallard 
recovery rates in the Pacific Flyway hada 
tendency to decline slightly in 1962. Un- 
fortunately the preseason banding program 
in the Prairie Provinces of Canada resulted 
in banding far too few birds to yield the de- 
sired information. 
Recovery rates from preseason bandings 
of black ducks are presented in table G-2 
(p. 161), Black duck recovery rates showed 
no pronounced change from 1961, 
WOOD DUCK BANDING 
The wood duck banding program has several 
objectives, Hunting kill rates can be deter- 
mined from these bandings, annual mortality 
estimates can be made, andthe effect of hunt- 
ing as a mortality factor can be examined. 
Since the wood duck has been subject to 
special regulations for many years, wood 
duck bandings are important in evaluating the 
effect of these regulations, The wood duckis 
a species which cannot be adequately counted 
during normal population surveys and as a 
result, indirect population estimates based 
on banding data and kill information provide 
the best estimates of wood duck numbers, 
