One station reported as much as 7 inches 
above normal, Onlytwo, Kamsackand Hudson 
Bay, reported below normal rainfall, This 
same dry section was in B-East stratum; it 
was the only area showing a decrease in 
ponds from 1962. 
Habitat conditions were good, Many of the 
May ponds carried through to July. Although 
most were choked with vegetation, water was 
still present in many. A few went dry and 
later were refilled by rains. These, of 
course, did not benefit the broods that were 
present but may have provided a little habitat 
for late nesters. Allin all, for the numbers 
of ducks present, no lack of habitat was evi- 
dent. Temperatures over the period were 
normal and except for the thunderstorms, 
no unusual weather was noted, In a number 
of the more severe thunderstorm areas, hail 
was reported which resulted in damage to 
wildlife and ducks, It is feltthis loss was not 
widespread and would not be an important 
factor this year, It is a rare year that there 
are not some losses from hail in July. 
Breeding Population Indexes 
This year an increase was noted in the 
overall population of waterfowlusing southern 
Saskatchewan, The total duck population in- 
dex stagd at 1,539,200 this year in comparison 
to 1,402,500 in 1962; and 3,697,700 the long- 
term average. This was an increase of 9,8 
percent over 1962 and a decrease of 58.4 
percent from the long-term average, The 
1963 figure is still below all the previous 
years except 1962. 
The most promising outlook was the 28 
percent increase in dabbling ducks over last 
year. This was still 56.7 percent below the 
average. Mallards and pintails showed slight 
increases of 14.9 percent and 19.4 percent, 
respectively. Substantial increases were 
noted over 1962 in the case of gadwall, 
shoveler, baldpate, and teal, Except for 
gadwall, all these species were still below 
average in numbers. Gadwall showed a 40.5 
percent increase over the average, 
Divers were up and down as individual 
species went, but as a whole, were down 
53.5 percent from 1962 and 70 percent from 
the average. Redhead and canvasback were 
down considerably from the average and from 
last year, Other diving ducks varied up and 
down by species, Coots were at an all-time 
low and indicated 87 percent below the aver- 
age, and 53.5 percent below last year. 
29 
The low coot numbers registered in south- 
ern Saskatchewan may not be a true reflec- 
tion of their status. 
One species that has continued to increase 
over the dry years in the prairies and park- 
lands of southern Saskatchewan has been 
the Canada goose. This is certainly encour- 
aging and a credit to the agencies who have 
been active in the progressive management 
of this species in Saskatchewan. In 1958 
not a single Canada goose was counted on 
the transects. They were present but in 
such small numbers that none were seen, 
From those earlier years they have increased 
steadily and recording of them have been 
made on transects since 1959, In 1963 the 
Canada goose index stood at 3,600, anincrease 
of 38,5 percent over 1962; and 176.9 percent 
over the average. It is apparent that the Can- 
ada goose is coming along in fine shape. 
The lone drake index is a forecast factor 
used to indicate the progress of the earlier 
nesters. The mallards, pintails, and canvas- 
back lone drakes are tallied and comparedto 
other years. The number of lone drakes 
present compared to pairs of the same spe- 
cies shows how well and how far along the 
nesting of these species has progressed. 
An early nesting season with the right kind 
of weather has generally been a forerunner 
of good nesting success, This is used as a 
barometer early in the season for forecasting 
success of the early nesters. This is used, 
particularly when no data in the form of 
broods present at this early date, to indicate 
what can be expected later in the summer. 
This year the lone drake index was 82.6 
percent, This is the highest index since 
1960, 
Consult tables 14, 15, and 16 in Section E 
of the Appendix, pages 118 and 119 fora sum- 
mary of southern Saskatchewan data. 
Production Indexes 
The duck brood index for July 1963 was 
nothing sensational. It was better than 1962 
but still slightly under 1961 and all years 
previous to it. The index stood at 45,800 
compared to 32,800 for 1962, an increase of 
39.6 percent (table F-17, p, 145). Incontrast 
to this, 1963 was still 81.6 percent under the 
long-term average (1952-1962) of 248,600. 
Most of this is attributed to poor early nesting 
efforts. Actually, class I broods were ap- 
pearing all during the survey. Some ofthese 
were late nesters and others renesting at- 
tempts. 
