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Breeding Range. (Fig. 31). Uncommon in the Turtle Mountains and on the Missouri Coteau and Northeastern Drift Plain; uncommon and local on the Northwestern Drift Plain (most numerous on the J. Clark Salyer and Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuges); rare in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region, on the Southern Drift Plain, and in the Southwestern Slope Region. Formerly, this species was a common breeding resident on Devils Lake and Stump Lake (Bent 1902 and 1923, Job 1899).

Breeding Habitat. Slightly brackish and moderately brackish, semipermanent and permanent ponds and lakes of cover types 2, 3 and 4 represent the principal wetland habitats occupied by territorial males, pairs, and broods during the breeding season. Shallow river impoundments that are managed for waterfowl also are utilized to a limited extent. Chief dominant deep-marsh emergents in these wetlands include hardstem bulrush, cattails, and river bulrush.

Nesting. Breeding season: Late May to mid-September; peak, mid-June to late August. Extreme egg dates (86 nests): May 21 [1972] in Stutsman County (L. M. Kirsch) to August 10 [1965] in Stutsman County (RES). Of all nests with viable eggs that were found, 2 percent were observed in late May, 83 percent in June, 13 percent in July, and 2 percent in early August. Extreme dates of dependent young (25 broods): July 16 [1968] in Williams County (H. A. Kantrud) to September 6 [1963] in Dickey County (RES). Of all broods recorded, 21 percent were observed in late July, 62 percent in August, and 17 percent in early September.

Nests are ordinarily situated on dry or moist soil in wet-meadow zones of prairie ponds and lakes, in tracts of native prairie, in hayfields, and in croplands with growing grain. The principal dominant plants in wet-meadow zones include prairie cordgrass, fowl bluegrass, wild barley, and Baltic rush. During 1966-1970, 14 upland nests, situated in native prairie, hayfields, and cropland, were found on the Woodworth Field Station of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Stutsman County (L. M. Kirsch). One nest found within the deep-marsh zone of a subsaline, semipermanent pond in Stutsman County was situated on moist soil in a clump of alkali bulrush (RES).

On the islands of Stump Lake in Nelson County, about 20 nests were found on June 27, 1898 (Job 1899) and 16 nests were found on June 15, 1901 (Bent 1923). Most of these dry-ground nests were situated in the taller prairie grass and a few had been placed under rose bushes.

Indicated clutch size (25 nests): 7 to 12 eggs; mean, 9.4 eggs.

Figure 31. Breeding Range of Lesser Scaup.