Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Breeding Range. (Fig.12). Common on the Southern Drift Plain, in the southern portion of the Missouri Coteau (within Kidder, Stutsman, Logan, LaMoure, McIntosh, and Dickey Counties), in the Turtle Mountains, and on the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge (within Bottineau and McHenry Counties); fairly common elsewhere on the Northwestern Drift Plain, on the Northeastern Drift Plain, and in the northwestern portion of the Missouri Coteau (portion extending northwesterly from Kidder and Stutsman Counties); uncommon and local in the Agassiz Lake Plain and Southwestern Slope Regions.
Breeding Habitat. Characteristic of wetlands (ponds, lakes, and shallow river impoundments) that contain stands of emergent marsh vegetation including deep-marsh associations (chiefly cattails, hardstem bulrush, or river bulrush) and shallow-marsh associations (chiefly whitetop, slough sedge, and tall mannagrass). Occasionally, this species also occurs in upland fields with fairly dense herbaceous vegetation including retired cropland, nonuse prairie, and nonuse domestic hayland.
Nesting. Breeding season: Late May to mid-August; peak, mid-June to late July. Extreme egg dates (28 nests): May 31 [1972] to August 2 [1971] in Stutsman County (L. M. Kirsch). Nestling dates (4 nests): June 25 [1917] in Burke County (H. C. Oberholser); July 11 [1967] in Rolette County (R. E. Stewart, Jr.); July 11 [1968] in McLean County (RES); and August 2 [1971] in Stutsman County (L. M. Kirsch).
Nests located in marshes were situated in the following emergent plant associations: hardstem bulrush, four nests; river bulrush, three nests; whitetop, one nest; tall mannagrass, one nest; and various mixtures, involving cattails, hardstem bulrush, river bulrush and whitetop, three nests. Water depths at 11 nest sites in marshes ranged from 5 to 36 inches, and averaged 14 inches.
During 1966-1970, Leo M. Kirsch and associates recorded six upland nests on the Woodworth Field Station of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Stutsman County, including one nest in nonuse grassland, and five nests in various types of unused domestic hayland.
Indicated clutch size (19 nests): 2 to 5 eggs; mean, 3.9 eggs.
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| Figure 12. Breeding Range of American Bittern. |
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/bbofnd/species/1900.htm
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