Mallard survival from local to immature stage in southwestern Saskatchewan

We used 3,670 reciveries from 32,647 bandings of mallards in southwestern Saskatchewan during 1956-59 to estimate the probability of surviving from the local, flightless stage to the flighted, immature stage. The probability of surviving from the local to the immature stage was 0.84 +/- 0.05 (SE) for males and females. The geographic distribution of direct recoveries was similar for the birds banded as local and immature. Probabilities of surivival for banded mallards can only be estimated from late summer to late summer. The estimate of survival from local to immature stage fills a gap in our knowledge of mallard mortality from female-brood breakup to the time of banding in late summer.