span of 13 days for completion, the 1963 sur- 
vey took only 9 days from beginning to end. 
Last year, severe weather conditions inter- 
rupted the operation and introduced the pos- 
sibility of shifts in population. 
In Region 3, snow cover was generally 
light or absent over much of the area at the 
time of the survey andthe waterfowl] had little 
difficulty finding food. This was in contrast 
to the situation last year when severe winter 
conditions had pushed most of the birds 
farther south. The winter habitat was re- 
stricted by ice and the absence of flooding, 
which sometimes makes the birds difficult to 
locate, This, with good weather during the 
survey, probably resulted in complete counts. 
In Region 4 unusually dry conditions over 
much of the southern part of the Flyway re- 
sulted in restricted wintering places, which 
simplified field operations. In Arkansas few 
of the reservoirs had been flooded artificial- 
ly because of the low mallard limits. This 
restricted the number of places where ducks 
might disperse and made the counting easier. 
Timely rains refilled the droughty coastal 
marshes of Louisiana in time to attract many 
wintering waterfowl. 
BREEDING GROUND SURVEY 
NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN 
NORTHERN MANITOBA 
WESTERN ONTARIO 
supplied by Arthur R, Brazda 
and Gust J. Nun 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife 
Data 
Weather and Habitat Conditions 
Ice was slow in going out in the bush area 
of Prince Albert. Parts of two Ontario tran- 
sects, had to be omitted because of inclement 
weathér;, Otherwise, coverage was compa- 
rable to that of 1962. Uponarrivalin The Pas 
on Mfay 25 all the larger lakes and marshes 
were free of ice. Green vegetation was prac- 
tically nil at this time; only small patches of 
aspen were beginning to show any develop- 
ment. The numerous pairs of late nesters 
observed in the Saskatchewan River Delta 
area, as well as the absence of flocked birds 
and the prevalence of drakes inthe early nes- 
ters, suggested that mating was infull swing, 
but probably had not been very long. 
On May 27, Manitoba #1 was completed to 
Kenora, Lake Winnipeg was free of ice ex- 
cept for two small areas. Leaf development 
on the aspen was more in evidence in the 
southern part, but was noticeable until we 
passed through an east—west line approxi- 
mately 50 miles north of Kenora. 
Showers were encountered almost contin- 
ually. Due to weather, seven segments of 
transect #3, and thirteen segments of tran- 
sect #4 were omitted, 
Average temperatures rose appreciably 
after June 2 and vegetation development was 
rapid throughout most of the survey area, 
The only ice observed in Ontario was on 
Wunnimin Lake on May 30; several large bays 
were still closed, but the ice appeared to be 
disintegrating rapidly, 
All of Ontario appeared to be in excellent 
shape for waterfowl, some minor flooding was 
evident, Thetamarac—meadow marshes west 
of James Bay were in aprime state and many 
pairs of Canada geese were observed in this 
area, 
In Saskatchewan, the water supply ranged 
from fair along the northerntransects to poor 
in the south. Except for the Meadow Lake 
region and the Beaver River bottom lands 
water conditions were below 1962. Meadow 
Lake and Beaver River were in excellent 
condition and held a large number of birds, 
The Gordon Lake locality also appeared in 
fair shape with many birds in evidence. 
Ice was completely gone from all lakes by 
June 13, and only a few isolated patches of 
snow remained along the shore of South Indi- 
an Lake, 
In comparison to the 1963 May— June survey, 
habitat conditions were the same or improved 
throughout the survey area in July. Thearea 
of greatest improvement was the southern 
bush—pothole region of Saskatchewan, In all 
probability, this improvement allowed broods 
to survive on potholes where marginal water 
conditions existed previously, However, the 
moisture came too late for much of the new 
habitat to be used in the 1963 production sea- 
son, 
The Meadow Lake—Green Lake area con- 
tinued to look good as it did in May. 
Conditions around The Pas, Manitoba, fol- 
lowed the same trend and were much better 
in July than during the May survey; this is 
39 
