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Breeding Range. (Fig. 116). During the 1800's, breeding populations of the Common Raven apparently occurred along the Missouri River and in the area west and south of the river in southwestern North Dakota; small numbers also were recorded in Pembina County.

Early records of this species during the breeding season are listed in chronological order as follows:

1823--Observed at Pembina during August 5-9 by Mr. Say (Keating 1824).

1833--Recorded in the vicinity of Fort Clark (Maximilian 1843).

1843--On June 5, ravens were seen along the Missouri River between Badger Creek [a few miles below Fort Rice] and the Heart River; on June 14, a few ravens were seen at Fort Union; on June 27, ravens were observed feeding on the entrails of a freshly killed antelope near Fort Union; on July 7, one was collected near Fort Union; on July 21, ravens were seen near the mouth of the Yellowstone River; on June 29, Edward Harris killed a young raven near Fort Union (Audubon 1897).

1853--Plentiful near the Great Bend of the upper Missouri [McLean County] as reported by Cooper (1859).

1873--More or less common from the Missouri River [vicinity of Fort Rice] westward [to Musselshell River in Montana], being seen about almost daily but nowhere very numerous; a nest was robbed near the Heart River on July 5 (Allen 1874).

1874--During early July on a military expedition from Fort Lincoln toward the southwest [to the Black Hills of South Dakota]--"Ravens were seen almost every day on the way to the Black Hills, but never more than one pair at a time, except on one or two occasions, when we saw a pair of old ones with their newly fledged young. They had bred on many of the lofty buttes that we passed." (Grinnell 1875).

1881--Hoffman (1883) was informed that this species was of common occurrence during the greater portion of the year in the badlands west of Fort Berthold [an area within Dunn and McKenzie Counties].

The disappearance of breeding populations of this species was probably caused by the widespread use of poisons and baited traps, in controlling Gray Wolves and other large predators during the late 1800's.

More recent observations reported during the breeding season in northeastern and eastern North Dakota probably represent wandering, non-breeding vagrants. These include the following records: female collected at Fargo on June 2, 1914 (W. B. Bell); one observed near Grafton on June 15, 1921 and another on April 25, 1922 (Williams 1926); and one observed at the Woodworth Field Station of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Stutsman County on May 28, 1963 (K. D. Bayha).

Figure 116. Breeding Range of Common Raven.