Wildlife. He found green-winged teal up 30 
percent, mallard up 25 percent, widgeon up 
slightly, scaup up 5 percent, and canvas back 
the same as last year, Pintail were down 
about 5 percent. Intotalnumbers, allspecies 
combined, the breeding population was up 15 
percent. Air transects in conjunction with 
this study, specifically, showed the population 
to be the same as in 1962 in contrast to the 
small increase from the ground counts. 
Consult tables 1, 2, and 3 in Section E of 
the Appendix, pages 109 and 110 for a sum- 
mary of Alaskan data. 
Production Indexes 
Production of all species of ducks from 
Alaska will be much improved over that of 
1962. Brood surveys comparable with last 
year were conducted between July 15-20 on 
two major areas of the interior spruce- 
muskeg habitat, On the extensive Fort Yukon 
Flats (Rampart Impoundment Area), Dr, 
Lensink found 25 percent more broods than 
last year with the average size of class I 
broods up from 6.6 to 6.9 young. 
In the Tetlin-Northway area adjacent tothe 
Canadian border, the same number of broods 
as last year were present but the average 
size of class I broods was up from 5,1 to 7.6 
ducks. This is an area of very stable habitat 
none of which was subjected to the severe 
flood loss found elsewhere in 1962. There- 
fore, last year’s nesting success from the 
Tetlin area was better thanin other areas and 
could be expected to reflect less of an im- 
provement this year. The greater average 
brood size is one indication of the generally 
improved season in 1963 in conjunction with 
an earlier hatch. During the July census 
period 70 percent of the broods were classI, 
20 percent class II and 10 percent class III in 
1962. In 1963 by way of comparison only 45 
percent were classIbut 35 percent were class 
II and 20 percent were class III, The habit- 
ually late nesting scaup and scoters were 
more than twice as abundant inthe 1963 (July) 
census than the same date in 1962. 
Until the August census is completed for 
late broods a more accurate determination 
will not be possible, But as of the late July 
census for both study areas combined, which 
very well may be quite representative of 
Alaska as a whole, broods were up 17 per- 
cent and total production up 28 percent above 
last year. 
14 
As previously reported there will be little 
or no black brant production. Over 4,000 
brant were trapped in two drives and there 
were no young among them although many 
adult females with brood patches were ex- 
amined. There may have been some loss of 
cackling geese where the nesting grounds of 
the two species overlap but the loss would 
not have been great inasmuch as the wind- 
swept tide did not reachas far asthe optimum 
cackler habitat, The other subspecies of 
Canada geese and white-fronted geese should 
have prospered with the good weather to the 
same extent as the ducks. 
Conclusions 
The outlook for production from Alaska is 
exceptionally good for 1963, 
SPECIAL STUDIES 7 
Weather and Habitat Conditions 
Extremely warm weather beginning in late 
April and continuing through most of May 
provided conditions which were highly favor- 
able for a rapid development of waterfowl 
habitat over most of the State. High waters 
reached a peak nearly 2 weeks earlier than 
usual, but were not of sufficient force to move 
heavy accumulations of ice from many of the 
larger lakes until May 20 to24, Water levels 
began to drop in late May and continued to 
fall all summer. 
An accelerated development of vegetation 
accompanied the warm and early spring—a 
phenological feature which is generally indi- 
cative of a good productionyear. The appear- 
ance of deserter male flocks early in June 
suggested at least a 7to 10 day advance in the 
seasonal phenology. Prospects for the best 
production year in the last 3 years were good 
to excellent. 
Breeding Pair Censuses 
Ground breeding pair censuses were con- 
ducted at Minto Lakes from May 28to June 7, 
1963, Conditions for the ground counts were 
nearly the same as in 1962, although there was 
more water in some areas prior to the 1963 
census. These counts reveled a breeding 
drake population of 54.0 males a square mile, 
This figure was not significantly different 
2 Data supplied by E. K. Shepherd 
