proved, however, that this is always a highly 
unlikely occurrence. Most of the ponds are 
down 1 to 3 feet below their normal levels. 
A dry fall in 1962 and little or no snow 
during the winter of 1962-1963 resulted in 
practically no runoff in southern Saskatche- 
wan, thus the poor pond condition. Since 
April 1 good rains over much of the area 
have been a real help to farmers in getting 
sufficient moisture for their crops, Thishas 
done little or nothing to add depth to the 
ponds. Together with a cool May it has 
slowed down evaporation and helped to main- 
tain what water was present at the start of 
the nesting season, 
A look at rainfall reports indicates many 
areas with 100 percent above normal rainfall 
during April. 
As mentioned, it was a cool early May 
with overnight temperatures on May 2, 3, 
and 4 below freezing, Fromearly Mayto May 
20 many nights were in the 30° - 40° range. 
In fact, on May 20 Saskatoon and Prince 
Albert registered 26° and on May 21 both 
showed 28°, 
Mid-April had mild weather with reports of 
early arrivals of waterfowl and nesting ac- 
tivities taking place, Early in the spring the 
phenology of the season appeared to be as 
much as 3 weeks ahead of normal; with the 
advent of the cool weather in May it slowed 
down to no more than a week ahead, or close 
to normal, 
This cold, damp weather in early May 
had its effect on early nesters, It was not 
possible to judge its impact on partially 
completed nests, or nests abandoned, but 
there were reports of cracked waterfowl 
eggs in nests in the Kinistino area, Past 
experience would indicate there might be 
smaller broods from the early nesting spe- 
cies. No doubt, renesting attempts will take 
place where eggs or nests were entirely lost 
from the freeze and inclement weather. 
Foliage was well developed in the western 
portions of Saskatchewan’s prairies by mid- 
May. Inthe B-East stratumas lateas May 22, 
leaves were just starting to come out,. Larger 
lakes, just north of Prince Albert, were still 
holding ice on that date, Except for scaup 
and other more northern nesters, migrants 
were conspicuously absent. 
Nesting habitat, where water was available, 
appeared satisfactory. Many dry ponds and 
fringes had been cultivated or plowed but 
vegetation appeared to be adequate in the 
watered areas, Due to spring rains, vegeta- 
tion was already abundant in the shallower 
28 
ponds and around the edges of the deeper 
water areas, Practically no burning was 
evident this spring due to the damp weather. 
There was no cultivation of stubble except for 
spring planting. Both of these factors were 
favorable for the field nesters. 
In general, much of the pond area was 
poorer than last year. Several well-watered 
areas were found near Kerrobert, Macklin, 
Lake Alma area, Lloydminster, west of Old 
Wives Lake, and north of Saskatoon. These 
were offset by the many areas with very poor 
water depth such as the Coteau in general, 
west of Last Mountain Lake, most of the 
western and southwest portions of the Prov- 
ince, and the big central area around Regina, 
The rains continued from April through 
July this year, Everything was green and 
certainly July pond conditions improved over 
the past 2 years. Withthe thunderstorms and 
gully washes more ponds should have been 
present in July than in May, but, the ground 
absorbed this moisture, Eventhough this was 
the first time ponds were seen developing 
in midsummer from rains, it still was not 
a province-wide situation, The real heavy 
rains came only in scattered areas and much 
of the overall dry Saskatchewan prairies did 
not increase in numbers of ponds. This 
was evident by the May pond count this year 
of 960,400 compared to the July index of 
689,100. To say it had no effect would also 
be wrong because the rains helped hold the 
May ponds, 
The outlook for next year is encouraging 
and it also is providing new pond areas which 
would be of benefit to late nesters. To show 
the effect, the July pond index of 1963 
(689,100) compared to 1962 (245,700) showed 
an increase of 180.5 percent. It was also 
33.1 percent above the 1958-62 average 
(517,900). Compared to the better water 
years of the midfifties, it was still down; 
for example, 1,439,400 pond index (1952- 
1962 average) a decrease this year of 52 
percent (table D-2, p. 105). 
The rains were a mixed blessing. Early 
nesting species had losses from nest flood- 
ing and heavy rains as indicated by the 
smaller percentage of class III broods. 
However, heavier numbers of class I and 
II broods indicate good usage of the rejuve- 
nated water areas and the good late-nesting 
index also indicates benefits from the rains, 
In all, the benefits far outweighed the losses, 
Saskatchewan rainfall from April 1 - July 
18, 1963, shows 26 reporting stations with 
an above normal rainfall of 2.80 inches. 
