Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Breeding Range. (Fig. 114). Fairly common in the Turtle Mountains and in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region; fairly common locally on the Northeastern Drift Plain, Southern Drift Plain, and Coteau Slope (most numerous in the Pembina Hills, Devils Lake - Stump Lake area, and in wooded valleys along the Sheyenne and James rivers and below Garrison Dam along the Missouri River); uncommon and local on the Northwestern Drift Plain, Missouri Coteau, Missouri Slope, and Little Missouri Slope.
Breeding Habitat. Characteristic of semiopen deciduous woodland including river floodplain forest, wooded lake shores, and woods of the uplands (particularly in the Pembina Hills, Turtle Mountains, Killdeer Mountains, and wooded hills in the vicinity of Devils Lake); also occurs locally in smaller tracts of upland forest that occupy steep north- or east-facing slopes of river bluffs, escarpments, buttes, and morainic hills. Woodland habitats created by man are inhabited occasionally by breeding Blue Jays. These include wooded farmsteads, residential areas of towns, tree claims, and some of the more mature shelterbelts.
Along the Missouri River below Garrison Dam, Edwin A. Hibbard found that breeding pairs of this species were restricted largely to late successional stages of the floodplain forest. American elm, green ash, and box elder are the principal dominant trees of these habitats.
Nesting. Probable breeding season: Early May to mid-August; probable peak, late May to mid-July. Nest-building was recorded as early as May 7 [1971] at Fargo (J. F. Cassel). Active nests were found on May 19 [1973] in LaMoure County (M. L. Avery) and on June 2 [1964] in Stutsman County (RES). Extreme dates of dependent young out of the nest (7 records): June 24 [1967] in Dunn County (R. L. Kroodsma) to August 14 [1920] in Ramsey County (Wood 1923).
The nest found at Fargo was situated in an American elm about 25 feet above the ground in the floodplain forest along the Red River. The Stutsman County nest was about 10 feet above the ground in a dense thicket of small trees, located on the north slope of a morainic hill. At Grafton, H.V. Williams reported that a nest was located in a small wild plum tree that was overgrown with vines of wild grape.
 |
| Figure 114. Breeding Range of Blue Jay. |
 |
|
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/bbofnd/species/4770.htm
Page Contact Information: Webmaster
Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:25:06 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]
