All:

After a visit from Phil Davis to poke around in the old files at Patuxent 
we came across a set of waterfowl cards printed on a government form for a 
Waterfowl Census Survey that the USDA Bureau of Biological Survey ran in 
the past.

There were approximately 200 cards and they list surveys from the early 
1930s of Chesapeake Bay Waterfowl. 

Some of the names of observers on the cards include:

 
Orin D. Steele

 Deputies O. Robbins & D.F. Shuffler
 C. W. Wallace-J.S.C. Boswell

A quick look at the data and it obvious that there were few to no Mallards 
on the Bay and many thousands of Black Ducks and that the "King of the 
Bay" the Canvasback was abundant.

We are entering these data into a spreadsheet and will send it out to the 
group, but have several questions that some of you may be able to answer.

1.  Has any of these data been published before?
2. Does anyone know any of the observer's listed above?
3. Does anyone have any background information on Bureau of Biological 
Survey Waterfowl Census?   <I have poked through most of the files here at 
Patuxent and these are the only survey cards I have found, yet my 
suspicion is that they were done throughout the U.S....and perhaps 
Canada.>

Thanks for any insights.

sam

Sam Droege   
w 301-497-5840 h 301-390-7759 fax 301-497-5624
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
BARC-EAST, BLDG 308, RM 124 10300 Balt. Ave., Beltsville, MD  20705
Http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov

Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

      -- Carl Sandburg





P Bees are not optional.