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Waterfowl status report, 1976

This report contains information from the 1975-76 midwinter waterfowl survey, the 1976 waterfowl breeding population and production surveys, and the waterfowl harvest surveys for the 1975-76 hunting season. This information was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and various cooperating State wildlife conservation agencies. Winter surveys are composed of the midwinter survey reports submitted from each of the four flyways and the midwinter survey covering a portion of the west coast of Mexico. The breeding ground surveys section is composed of many individual reports that provide breeding population and production estimates for most waterfowl species within a major portion of their breeding range. The waterfowl harvest survey provides estimates of waterfowl hunting activity and success. Information from surveys of the wintering and breeding populations of waterfowl, coupled with data from the annual harvest survey, are instrumental in developing annual hunting regulations for waterfowl. Credit has been given to each individual or organization that submitted a report. Although some of the narrative statements have been condensed and a few tables deleted or condensed if they contain data presented elsewhere in this report, the essential information from each report has been retained. The breeding grounds survey strata (Fig. 1) for areas surveyed by Fish and Wildlife Service crews were renumbered in 1974.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

The state of Lake Superior in 1992

The Lake Superior fish community in 1992 is substantially different than it was a half century ago and is far from a state desired by management agencies. Fish-community objectives were established for Lake Superior in response to A Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries (Great Lakes Fishery Commission 1980) and are the template for this report on the state of the lake. Reporting on progress toward meeting stated goals and objectives will focus attention on critical fishery issues and enhance understanding among fishery- and environmental-management agencies, political bodies, and the public.

Special Publication

Downstream movement of lampreys and fish in the Carp Lake River, Michigan

An inclined-screen trap was installed on the Carp River, Emmett County, Michigan, in the spring of 1948 and has been in almost continuous operation since that time. The major goal of this project--a precise determination of the length of the larval life of sea lamprey--was not attained because of the contamination of the stream above the dam with spawning lampreys. The lampreys and other fishes collected in the trap did, however, provide extensive and valuable biological information. The present report documents much of the information, largely in tabular form, accumulated over the operating seasons, 1948-49 through 1957-58; the amount of detail has been varied according to the importance of the topic under consideration or the amount required to bring out a particular point.

Special Scientific Report - Fisheries

Birds imported into the United States in 1972

Birds imported into the United States in 1972 are tabulated by species. Total numbers for the period 1968-72 are given for the more commonly imported taxa. The number of birds imported in 1972 (640,995) decreased by about one third from that of 1971, largely as a result of a ban declared on the importation of birds in August 1972 due to the outbreak of exotic Newcastle,disease. Much of the decrease in numbers imported was a result of a large decrease in the numbers of parrots imported. In 1972 parrots accounted for under 9% of all birds imported, compared with nearly 25% of all imports the previous year. In 1972, 624 species were imported of which 105 had not been reported in the previous 4 years; since 1968, approximately 1,540 species have been imported. Birds were imported from 53 countries; 10 countries provided nearly 95% of the individual birds. The proportion of presumably wild-caught birds increased to about 86% compared with about 77% in 1971.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Significance of lead residues in mallard tissues

Tissues of adult, lead-dosed mallards that either died or were sacrificed were analyzed for lead. Lead levels in brains, tibiae, and breast muscle of ducks that died and in tibiae of ducks that were sacrificed increased significantly from dosage until death. Lead in the heart, lung, and blood from sacrificed ducks decreased significantly from dosage until death. Lead concentrations in tissues from ducks in the two groups were not significantly different except for the liver, kidney, and lung. Average lead levels in the livers and kidneys of ducks that died were significantly higher than those in ducks that were sacrificed. The mean concentration of lead in the lungs of the ducks sacrificed was significantly higher than the mean level in the lungs of ducks that died. Measurements of the lead concentrations in this study, when compared with lead levels reported in the literature for avian and non-avian species, showed that arbitrary diagnostic levels indicating lead poisoning could be set. In mallard ducks, lead levels exceeding 3 ppm in the brain, 6 to 20 ppm in the kidney or liver, or 10 ppm in clotted blood from the heart indicated acute exposure to lead.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Introduction to the special section on improving measurements of earthquake source parameters

Earthquake source parameters such as magnitude, seismic moment, source dimension, stress drop, and radiated energy are fundamental to understanding earthquake physics, and are also key ingredients in earthquake ground‐motion modeling, rupture simulation, and statistical seismology. However, the uncertainties in these parameters estimated from the radiated seismic wavefield are large due to variability in approaches, including site and attenuation characterizations, and so estimates for an individual earthquake made by different studies can vary greatly. Estimating spectral source parameters remains a popular topic, due to a combination of their intrinsic importance and their apparent ease of measurement, but also a controversial one, due to many sources of variability and large uncertainty. The available methods coupled with necessary parameter choices and assumptions in the analysis make it challenging for researchers to apply methods or understand the reliability in results or reported source parameters. This Special Section on Improving Measurements of Earthquake Source Parameters showcasing comparisons between methods and studies seeks to alleviate some of these difficulties to help the community identify the important components and trade‐offs of decomposing recorded seismograms into their source, path, and site components.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

A bibliography of references to avian botulism

This bibliography, first compiled in 1970 in response to many requests for information on avian botulism, has been updated to include the literature published through 1975. In general, only articles dealing primarily with the avian disease are included, as opposed to those concerned with various aspects of the biology of Clostridium botulinum , either type C or type E. A few exceptions, such as Bengton’s report of the first isolation and description of the type C organism, are included for their historical interest. Progress reports and other administrative documents not available for distribution or request are excluded, as are textbook accounts, which are generally summaries of work published elsewhere. Although Mr. Allen and Mrs. Wilson have attempted to list every important reference, they make no claim to complete coverage of the published literature. The authors will be grateful to users of the bibliography who call attention to errors or omissions.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Birds of Isle Royale in Lake Superior

This report constitutes an annotated list of 197 species of birds reported from Isle Royale National Park, a 210-square-mile archipelago in northwestern Lake Superior including some 200 islets and rock outcrops. The island is 45 miles long and 8 miles wide at its widest point. Bird distribution and habitats are described, along with geography and vegetation; 62 species are known to have bred at least once, 26 are thought to be breeders, and the rest are migrants.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

The literature of the California black rail

Few birds have remained so little known as the California black rail ( Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus ). Although first collected in 1859 or before and reported in 1874 (Ridgway 1874), its life history, distribution, and status have remained so obscure that even a sight record of the bird is deemed worthy of a report in some ornithological publications. Because degradation and loss of freshwater and saltwater marshlands in California may be detrimentally affecting the black rail, both the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (1973) and the California Department of Fish and Game (1972) have classified it as rare and worthy of further study. The 84 papers and notes both summarized in this report and included in its bibliography include essentially all that is currently known about the California black rail. Only 11 of these papers consider the life history of this rail in any detail. The rest are distribution notes and some of the more important papers on the closely related eastern black rail ( L. j. jamaicensis ). The latter are included for comparative purposes, or because they may lend clues to currently unknown facets of the life history of the western race.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

A virus disease of sockeye salmon: Interim report

Since 1951 a disease, usually occurring in late spring or early summer, has caused severe losses in 3- to 12-month-old fingerling sockeye salmon in hatcheries in the State of Washington. The disease is characterized by an explosive outbreak, mortality usually 80 percent or greater, and a residual spinal deformity in a small percentage of the surviving fish, and its specificity for the one species of salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka. (The anadromous strain of this species is commonly known as sockeye, blueback, or red salmon, while the fresh-water strain is called kokanee or silver trout.) The etiological agent is believed to be a virus.

Special Scientific Report - Fisheries

A report upon the Grand Coulee Fish Maintenance Project 1939-1947

The construction or Grand Coulee Dam, on the upper Columbia River, involved the loss of 1,140 lineal miles of spawning and rearing stream to the production of anadromous fishes. The fact that the annual value of these fish runs to the nation was estimated at $250,000 justified reasonable expenditures to assure their perpetuation. It was found economically infeasible to safely collect and pass adult fish upstream and fingerling fish downstream at the dam because of the tremendous flow of the river and the 320 foot vertical difference in elevation between forebay and tailrace. The Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project, undertaken by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1939, consisted in relocating the anadroumous runs of the upper Columbia River to four major tributaries entering below the Grand Coulee damsite. These streams were believed capable of supporting several times their existing, badly depleted, run. The plan was predicated upon the assumption that the relocated runs, in conformity with their "homing tendency", would return to the lower tributaries rather than attempt to reach their ancestral spawning grounds above Grand Coulee Dam. This interim report covers the history and accomplishments of the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project through the initial period of relocating the rune as well as the first four years of the permanent program. Results obtained to date indicate conclusive success in diverting the upper Columbia fish runs into the accessible lower tributaries. The results also indicate, less conclusively, that - in spite of many existing handicaps - the upper Columbia salmon and steelhead runs may be rehabilitated through the integrated program of natural and artificial propagation incorporated in the Grand Coulee Fish-Maintenance Project.

Washington

Bibliography of references to avian botulism: Update

This bibliography, first compiled in 1970 (Allen and Wilson 1977) and published in 1977 in response to many requests for information on avian botulism, has been updated to include the literature published through 1980. In general, only articles dealing primarily with the avian disease are included, as opposed to those concerned with the various aspects of the biology of Clostridium botulinum , either type C or E. A few exceptions, such as Bengtson's report of the first isolation and description of the type C organism, are included for their historical interest. Progress reports and other administrative documents not available for distribution on request are excluded, as are most textbook accounts, which are generally summaries of work published elsewhere. This bibliography was a cooperative effort by the National Wildlife Health Laboratory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. National Park Service. The National Park Service provided partial funding for the work through Contract No. 89100-0491. Although the authors attempted to list every important reference, they make no claim to complete coverage of the published literature. The authors will be grateful to users of the bibliography who call attention to errors or omissions. Wayne I. Jensen (Retired) Milton Friend, Director, National Wildlife Health Laboratory

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Comparative Dietary Toxicities of Pesticides to Birds

This report presents measurements of the lethal dietary toxicity of 89 pesticidal chemicals to young bowhites, Japanese quail, ring-necked pheasants, and mallards. Toxicity is expressed as the median lethal concentration (LC 50) of active chemical in a 5-day ad libitum diet. LC 50's and associated statistics are derived by methods of probit analysis. Endrin consistently was the most toxic chemical while aldrin and dieldrin were among the six most toxic chemicals of those tested on all species. In general, organophosphates were less toxic than aldrin or dieldrin and herbicides were of a low order of toxicity. There were obvious inconsistencies in the relative sensitivity of the four species to various chemicals.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

A bibliography of references to avian cholera

Mrs. Wilson has made a genuine effort to include in this bibliography every significant reference to avian cholera since Louis Pasteur's articles appeared in 1880, although she recognizes the likelihood that a few have been overlooked. New listings have been added throughout 1978, but comprehensive coverage of the literature cannot be claimed beyond June of that year. Textbook accounts, because they are generally summaries of work published elsewhere, are excluded. Papers dealing primarily with the biology of Pasteurella multocida , as opposed to the disease it induces in birds, are also excluded, unless they report information of diagnostic usefulness. Short abstracts are not included unless the journals in which they are published are more widely available than those in which the complete articles appear or they are English summaries of foreign language articles. In compiling this bibliography, Mrs. Wilson has made extensive use of Biological Abstracts, the Pesticide Documentation Bulletin, and printouts generated by Bibliographic Retrieval Services, Inc. The "Literature Cited" sections of textbooks and journal articles pertinent to the subject were sources of many additional references. Regardless of the origin of the citation, its accuracy was confirmed by comparison with the original publication, except in those few instances (marked with an asterisk) when the journal was not on the shelves of the libraries accessible to us. The author will be grateful to users of the bibliography who point out errors or omissions. Wayne I. Jensen Microbiologist In Charge

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Woodcock status report, 1960

Singing ground counts for 1960 from 40 routes west of the Appalachians and 166 routes east of this range were available for comparison with counts made on the same routes in 1959. While the measurements of change in the woodcock breeding index between years relate, properly speaking, only to these routes as selected by the cooperators, this is the best information we have on the breeding population of the area east of Wisconsin and north of Tennessee and South Carolina.* East of the Appalachians the sample data indicated a statistically significant decrease of 10 per cent, and it probably is safe to conclude that the true drop did not exceed 19 per cent. West of the Appalachians an average increase of 7 per cent was indicated, and 95 per cent confidence limits suggest- that if a decrease did occur on the sample routes, it probably was not more than 13 per cent. For both areas combined, a decrease of 2 per cent was recorded on the 206 routes sampled, with confidence limits of an increase of 9 per cent or a decrease of 12 per cent. There is no evidence of a disastrous population decrease in spite of the severe weather conditions of March 1960. *No comparative data were available from Indiana, Quebec, Rhode Island, Delaware or Virginia; and only one route in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin were covered both years.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife

Bedrock aquifers in the northern San Rafael Swell area, Utah, with special emphasis on the Navajo Sandstone

This report presents the results of a study of bedrock aquifers in the northern San Rafael Swell area, Utah (fig. 1), with special emphasis on the Navajo Sandstone of Triassic(?) and Jurassic age. The study was made by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights. Fieldwork was done mainly during March 1979-July 1980, with supplemental testing and observations during August-December 1980. The principal objectives of this study were to determine: (1) Well yields of the bedrock formations, (2) the capability of formations to yield, over the long term, water chemically suitable for presently (1980) known uses, and (3) effects of withdrawals from wells on the surface-water supply in the Colorado River Basin.

Utah

Wildlife importation into the United States, 1900-1972

Data from Bureau of Biological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports show an overall increase in the number of birds and mammals imported from 1900 to 1972. The trend was interrupted by World War I, the economic depression of the 1930's, and World War II. Data are lacking for the years after World War II until 1968. Until 1942, domesticated canaries and a few species of game birds made up most of the avian imports; the shell parakeet or budgerigar was the most commonly imported parrot. Although the total number ofbirds imported 1968-72 was-not greatly different from the pre-depression years, the proportion of canaries, game species, and parakeets declined greatly and the variety and number of cage birds including other parrot species greatly increased. Until 1930 most mammals imported were for laboratory use or fur farming. After 1930 the number of imported mammals increased with the growing importance of primates, especially rhesus macaques, in research. Since 1968 the number of mammals irnported annually has been at least 5 times greater than the previous peak of 1938, and primates have made up 87% of mammalian imports. Information on reptiles and amphibians imported into the United States is available only for 1970 and 1971. Turtles were the most commonly imported reptiles, frogs and toads the most commonly imported amphibians.

Special Scientific Report - Wildlife