Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Breeding Range. (Fig. 22.) Common throughout the Prairie Pothole Region and in the Turtle Mountians; fairly common in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region, and on the Coteau Slope and Missouri Slope; uncommon on the Little Missouri slope.
Breeding Habitat. Wetland complexes that contain a variety of wetland habitat including temporary, seasonal, and semipermanent ponds and lakes; greatest use occurring within shallow-marsh zones of seasonal and semipermanent ponds and lakes. This species also occurs regularly along streams and associated oxbows and on man-made wetlands including stock ponds, shallow river impoundments, dugouts, reservoirs, and drainage channels.
Nesting. Breeding season: Early April to late September; peak, late April to mid-August. Extreme egg dates (155 nests): April 15 [1943] in Ward County (S. Saugstad) to July 23 [1967) in Stutsman County (H. A. Kantrud). Of all nests with eggs that were found, 5 percent were recorded in April, 42 percent in May, 48 percent in June, and 5 percent in July. Extreme dates of dependent young (676 broods): May 22 [1966] in Ramsey County (P. A. Aus) to September 24 [1965] in Stutsman County (RES). An abnormally late brood was recorded on November 7 [1962] in Stutsman County (RES). Of all broods recorded, 1 percent was observed in late May, 13 percent in June, 56 percent in July, 29 percent in August, and 1 percent from September to early November.
Mallard nests were situated in a considerable variety of habitats. The great majority were found in native prairie, retired cropland, hayfields, weedy field borders and in other similar situations. Small numbers were found in brushy thickets or wood margins, over water in marsh zones of sloughs and ponds, and on top of haystacks. A few nests also were reported in abandoned hawk or crow nests in trees at a considerable height above the ground.
In a study of waterfowl nests along a highway right-of-way in Stutsman County, Oetting and Cassel (1971) found significantly higher densities of active Mallard nests in unmowed sectors than in sectors that had been mowed. Investigations on the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge by Salyer (1962) indicated that the density of active Mallard nests during a "good" wet year (1960) was much greater than during a "poor" dry year (1961).
Indicated clutch size (118 nests): 5 to 17 eggs; mean, 9.6 eggs. During 1969 in Stutsman County, Page and Cassel (1971) found that the average clutch size in 15 nests representing initial attempts was 9.9 eggs, while the average clutch size in 4 nests that represented renesting attempts was 7.6 eggs.
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| Figure 22. Breeding Range of Mallard. |
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/bbofnd/species/1320.htm
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