USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Breeding Range (Fig. 59). Common throughout the Prairie Pothole Region and in the Turtle Mountains; fairly common locally in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region and on the Coteau Slope; uncommon and local on the Missouri Slope and Little Missouri Slope.

Breeding Habitat. Soras inhabit wetlands that contain dense stands of emergent, herbaceous vegetation. These include fens, seasonal ponds and lakes, and semipermanent ponds and lakes that range in salinity from fresh to subsaline. A considerable variety of species are used for cover. These include giant burreed, tall mannagrass, whitetop, slough-grass, slough sedge, water sedge, common spikerush, cattails, phragmites, hardstem bulrush, alkali bulrush, and river bulrush. During high-water conditions, cover furnished by wet-meadow species such as prairie cordgrass and wild barley also is utilized.

Nesting. Breeding season: Late May to mid-August; peak, early June to late July. Extreme egg dates (43 nests): May 20 [1967] in Dickey County (H. F. Duebbert) to July 30 [1965] in Stutsman County (RES). Broods have been recorded as early as June 15 [1941] in McHenry County (J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge record file) and June 15 [1949] in Burke County (Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge record file).

The type of emergent vegetation in which 10 nests were situated varied as follows: three nests in alkali bulrush; three nests in whitetop; two nests in a mixture of slough sedge and tall mannagrass; and two nests in a mixture of slough sedge and common spikerush. In addition, single nests were found in each of the following types of cover: sloughgrass; slough sedge; common spikerush; mixture of giant burreed and prairie cordgrass; mixture of tall mannagrass and whitetop; mixture of giant burreed, whitetop, and river bulrush; and mixture of cattails, whitetop, and hardstem bulrush. Water depths at 13 nest sites ranged from 0 (wet soil) to 19 inches and averaged 9.1 inches.

Indicated clutch size (25 nests): 5 to 20 eggs; mean. 9.4 eggs.

Figure 59. Breeding Range of Sora.