by Art Hawkins

Art Hawkins is a legend in the waterfowl world.  His research career started under the direction of Aldo Leopold, who is known as the ‘father of wildlife management’.  Art Hawkins played a key role in developing the breeding waterfowl surveys that are still used 50 years since their inception.  Art spent 40 years with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, including 15 years as the USFWS representative with the Mississippi Flyway.  He is spending his retirement with his lovely wife Betty on a beautiful Minnesota lake. Flash Video of Art Hawkin's Student Symposium Presentation

The first official awareness, to my knowledge, that we needed more than "gut feelings" to manage the duck resource properly is recorded by Eltinge Warner in October 1928 issue of Field and Stream magazine. I quote: "When Paul G. Redington was appointed chief of the U.S. Biological Survey, he asked, 'How many wild ducks are there' no one in the Survey would give even Redington a good guess. So he said, 'I'm going to count these ducks. He believed that a huge mass of date could be gathered together that would guide him in the adoption of intelligent methods of game protection (and) placed Harry C. Oberholzer in charge of the census (with) authority to appoint observers in all sections of the U.S. and Canada.... In a very short time, his organization was taking shape and the wheels were beginning to turn."

Redington was director during the worst drought of recent history - the early 1930's - and duck numbers were plummeting. Most observers agreed that the duck population dropped to its lowest level ever, a guesstimated 28 million birds. Jay N. Darling, who replaced Redington as director in 1934, showed his frustration about the waterfowl situation in his usual blunt style. I quote: "I find the general atmosphere of the country almost hysteric over ducks, born of the sudden realization that things are bad. The amazing thing to me is that...the warnings of recent years have not been taken seriously. As to ducks, I want to divest of any suspicion that I know all about them. No one does... with a $500 million industry to maintain, no one started long ago to put the duck business on a factual basis. No one knows whether we kill 12 million and hatch 11 million or whether we kill 20 million and hatch 10 million."

Perhaps motivated by such forceful rhetoric, an organization called, "More Game Bird in America Foundation" conducted the first major breeding ground inventory in August 1935. Their subsequent report stated, "it is imperative that the annual duck crop and the total number of ducks be ascertained before regulations governing the annual take are made. This work never before has been undertaken on the scale or in the manner described herein.... This year the Foundation has underwritten the work of conducting a duck census in an extensive area... Its sole purpose was to find the facts in the only place that fact-finding of this nature is practicable - on the breeding ground".

In 1937, More Game Birds became Ducks Unlimited, which continued aerial counts of the ducks at their August gathering places, combining this information with reports from several hundred "Keemen" across the "Big Duck Factory" and arriving at an estimate of the total annual duck population.

These figures soon became a bone of contention between the federal wildlife agencies responsible for the management of the waterfowl resource and D.U., especially after S. Kip Farrington's book The Ducks Came Back was published in 1945. Following the great drought on the breeding grounds, with the improved habitat conditions, duck populations gradually increased. Farrington, in glowing terms, gave all the credit for this improvement to Ducks Unlimited. Here is an example from his book: "It is this author's firm conviction that Ducks Unlimited is responsible for the phenomenal increase of waterfowl in North America over the period covering the last eight years. I would attribute but part of this credit to God. It is the conservation miracle of all time..."

In his introduction to the Farrington book, Eltinge Warner wrote "Kip Farrington surely is well qualified to write on such a subject and the book is bound to be enthusiastically received by every member of Ducks Unlimited as well as every man whose pet is a choke-bore (shotgun)." D.U. leaders in their newsletter known as the "Duckological" also did much to promote the idea that D.U. was in charge of the waterfowl situation. When I first worked in Canada in 1946 and encountered farmers while checking potholes for waterfowl, the common response was "Oh, you work for D.U. eh?"

Years later, long-time D.U. Biologist W.G. (Bill) Leitch wrote an excellent history of D.U.'s work in Canada, titled "Ducks and Man." It was published in 1978. In the book, Leitch gives a factual account of D.U.'s first 40 years of accomplishments, forwarding waterfowl management programs on the Canadian breeding grounds. He writes, "In 1946, the full (D.U.) Aerial routes were flown once more and total waterfowl populations estimated. After 1947, because of the controversy generated by the discrepancy between population figures published by Ducks Unlimited and those of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the two organizations decided with the Canadian Wildlife Service that instead of publishing annual population figures, the changes in population from year to year would be expressed as trends of indices."

By that time, the two federal agencies had recognized that they were losing control of their responsibility of managing the waterfowl resource. In terms of figures representing the size of the duck population, they had nothing better to offer. With World War II over, it was time to rectify the situation. The financial situation was improving, surplus warplanes were available for the asking, and well-trained pilots were looking for jobs.

Art Hawkins, Alice Stokes and Aldo Leopold (Enlarge)

Hawkins Family heading to Delta (Enlarge)

I joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 1946, temporarily headquartered in Madison with my graduate school professor, Aldo Leopold. My boss was Mississippi Flyway biologist and pilot Robert H. (Bob) Smith, who had received the first hand-me-down plane, a Stinson L-5. I inherited Bob's Chevy, and drove with my wife Betty and our two-year-old son Tex to the newly established waterfowl research station at Delta, Manitoba.

On May 25, Bob buzzed us in the L-5, tied down the plane at Rutlidge's pasture, across Cadham Bay, and the staff of the Delta Waterfowl Station, as it was called then - H. Albert (Al) Hochbaum, Peter Ward, and Lyle Sowles - greeted us with open arms. Before long, we were conferring and developing our summer plans for the waterfowl survey. Bob carried instructions from Washington: 1) Find a better way to inventory ducks across the prairies, and 2) check as many D.U. projects as possible, in cooperation with D.U. staff, as well as dominion and provincial officials. My family settled into the Delta community, and we returned seven more years.

Lyle Sowls (Enlarge)

Pete Ward (Enlarge)

H.A. Hochbaum (Enlarge)

Years later, in the book Waterfowl Tomorrow (1964), in the chapter "Research - Key to Programs," David A. Monroe of the Canadian Wildlife Service and Walter F. Crissey of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service neatly described the problem before us as our Delta team laid out maps in Al Hochbaum's office. I quote: "Research must find the most efficient and more accurate ways to determine the stock on hand and to measure the changes in its status. The problem is complicated by the large numbers of species involved, the great expanse of territory which they frequent, and the different kinds of habitat which they choose...as management becomes more intensive, the need for more precise measurement increases. Good inventories open other doors. They provide a basis for sound regulations and permit maximum harvest consistent with reasonable carryover of breeding stock. They also provide a measure of habitat utilization, so that its relative importance can be assessed. Keeping track of several dozen kinds of waterfowl over a range measured in millions of square miles is a sizeable chore. Yet it is being done with commendable accuracy and the system devised stands as a major triumph of research."

It is this "Triumph of Research" that is being celebrated this year, as we mark the 50th anniversary of our pioneering effort to conduct a continentally significant waterfowl inventory. Duluth author Michael Furtman described it thus: "The largest, oldest and most respected wildlife survey in the world is the annual aerial waterfowl survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its Canadian partners. Now in its 50th year, the daring pilot-biologists, their aerial counters and the mud-slogging ground truthing crews survey waterfowl habitat and the birds themselves each spring, beginning in South Dakota and ending in Alaska."

L5 at Rutlidge's Pasture (Enlarge) Lyle Sowls and Art Hawkins (Enlarge)

We began our field work, knowing from earlier Delta studies that adult hens tended to return to their nesting areas of the previous year; that nesting ducks were faithful in establishing and defending their nesting territories; and that nesting pairs or single drakes - if the hen had already begun nesting - were conspicuous at this time of year. Our first job was to determine how well we could identify nesting ducks from the air. Here are my notes from our first trial flight: "May 27, 1946. With Bob Smith and his L-5, flew over the entire Delta Marsh, Lake Francis and Middle and South Shoal Lakes. Also covered much of the marsh west of Delta. Flying time, 2.5 hours. An attempt was made to classify the Delta Marsh population by species, pairs, territorial singles, and groups by species. Bob concentrated on divers, I on dabblers. Our job proved difficult for several reasons:

"A) Too many species involved (15 in all). B) Some species harder to see than others (i.e. teal stuck to grassy shorelines and ruddies dove. C) When covering a winding shoreline with many bays, it is difficult to know which areas have been covered and which haven't. D) Almost impossible to make observations and write at the same time. E) Can watch only a limited area out of one side of the plane. F) Birds are stirred up by the plane. Some may be recounted, identity of territorial birds may be lost." (My report shows numbers and species observed.)

After this initial experience, and working closely with Delta staff, we established transects along roads so we could compare aerial and ground counts. These revealed that the ground count numbers, especially for some species, were consistently higher than aerial counts. We also compared counts from the air with counts from a canoe on routes in Cadham Bay, and these showed similar differences between ground and aerial counts. However, counts were close enough to convince us that the aerial method had strong possibilities. As the summer progressed, we expanded these trials to different habitat types, and gradually the linear habitat transect method evolved. The method we developed in 1946 was described in detail in a paper I presented at the 13th North American Wildlife Conference. The reference is "Smith, Robert H. and Arthur S. Hawkins: Appraising North American Breeding Waterfowl Populations." The occasion remains etched in my memory. Bob Smith was unable to attend and it was my first major presentation before a large audience, and it was no ordinary session.

Due to growing concern about waterfowl and unexpectedly large turnout, the forum entitled "Duck Needs Being Ducked" was held as a general session in the evening, rather than a break-out session, on the first day of the conference. A large number of concerned duck hunters, biologists and administrators were in attendance. And here I was, a newly hired assistant flyway biologist sharing the same podium with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Al Day, Dominion Wildlife Officer for the Prairie Provinces, J. Dewey Soper, Chief Naturalist for Ducks Unlimited, B.W. Cartwright, Conservation Commissioners, Chester Wilson, William Adams and Sydney Stevens from Minnesota, New York and Missouri and Glenn L. Martin, airplane manufacturer! Was I nervous? Wow! You bet I was!

Most of the speakers dodged the recent, well publicized flare-up between government agencies and D.U. but Director Day said this about it: "I am sure that this group will be glad to learn that the Fish and Wildlife Service and Duck Unlimited have recently worked out a program of close cooperation in connection with observations on the breeding grounds and the handling of publicity. A conference was held in Washington last month by technicians of Ducks Unlimited, the Canadian government, the Wildlife Management Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Out of this we hope to develop a uniform pattern of assessing populations and conditions on the breeding grounds. We want, in the future, to avoid the issuance of publicity which tends to confuse the public rather than clarify the perplexing problems of waterfowl abundance."

My paper contained a plan for inventory of the duck breeding areas, including problems needing further research. My conclusion was, "despite the questions as yet unsolved, sound waterfowl management is a long step nearer realization because of the new approach to appraising breeding populations." I believe that this has proven to be the case.

During the summer of 1947, new workers with new equipment in new places put this method to the test and on September 4-6, 1947, at Bottineau, North Dakota the first major meeting of field technicians and administrators was held. The findings were summarized in a 12 page report written by Allen Smith, who worked in Alberta and Jerome Stoudt, who worked in Saskatchewan. Forty-five people attended the gathering. D. Gustav Swanson opened the meeting and Dr. Clarence Cottam closed it. Both represented the Washington Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Featured speakers included G.W. Malaher, Chief of the Manitoba Game Branch, C.R. Guttermuth of the American (now Wildlife) Management Institute, sponsoring the Delta Waterfowl Station, and its Director, Al Hochbaum.

At the beginning of the 1948 field season, 26 members of the survey team scheduled to work in Manitoba that year met in Delta to discuss and plan their work. That September, after the field season was over, the first Inter-American Waterfowl Conference was held at Waterton Lakes, Alberta. Officials and field biologists from the prairie provinces, the Canadian Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited, the Wildlife Management Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service attended and pledged their continuing cooperation. I flew to this meeting with Bob Smith in his L-5. We landed on a high mountain meadow near the lodge. During the night, a blast of catabolic wind swept down the mountain and demolished the plane. It was later transported to Bear River Refuge by truck, but could not be repaired, and the first aircraft used to develop our waterfowl survey method was never flown again.

Bill Kiel (Enlarge) Widgeon on Cadham Bay (Enlarge)

As additional intensive waterfowl research areas were added across the provinces, many of the questions relating to aerial inventory were resolved, but other kept cropping up, as surveys moved into the hinterlands. Our horizons were expanded as more float-bearing planes were added to the fleet, and some of our pilots gained the experience needed to be considered true "bush pilots". The adventures of the air survey crews that explored uncharted territory and braved the elements to survive injuries, engine failures or contaminated fuel can't be adequately addressed with today's limitations of time and space, but the stories are worth hearing.

Special Scientific Report No. 160 (1972-USFWS) summarizes the survey situation as follows: "Aerial surveys in May were initiated on an experimental basis in 1947, when aircraft and pilots first become available for the work, and July aerial surveys (for brood production) were begun in the 1950's. C.S. Williams (1948) first established that aerial waterfowl surveys were sufficient to adequately determine the annual status of the waterfowl resource (Cecil S. Williams was the Chief Waterfowl Investigations for the USFWS.)

It was not until 1959 that ground/air comparison transects were designated within each of the 9 prairie crew inventory regions to provide annual species visibility correction factors for the breeding ground survey, but these did not become fully operational until 1961. Such comparisons proved impractical for adjusting the July brood production surveys, and were abandoned for this purpose in 1964. By then, Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) had been adopted for ground and air, so that all inventory participants followed a common set of guidelines. By 1955, the waterfowl survey was considered fully operational, at least on the prairies. Hence, it seems appropriate to celebrate the 50th anniversary at this time.

However, it's worth noting that a decade of work was spent laying the foundation for adaptive waterfowl management, through this scientific monitoring of population trends. And it's especially important to remember that the birthplace of this historic achievement was the Delta Waterfowl Research Station and the birth date was May 25, 1946.