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Breeding Range. (Fig. 154). Common in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region, in the Turtle Mountains, in the wooded hills and lake shores of the Devils Lake area (southern Ramsey County and eastern Benson County), and in the wooded valley along the Sheyenne River (extending upstream to north-central Eddy County); fairly common in the Pembina Hills, on the deltaic sand area of the Souris Lake Plain (within McHenry County), and in wooded valleys along the James River (between Jamestown and Grand Rapids), Mouse River (within McHenry, Ward, and Renville Counties), and one sector of the Missouri River (between Garrison Dam and a point about 10 miles below Bismarck); uncommon and local elsewhere in the Prairie Pothole Region and on the Coteau Slope and Missouri Slope; rare and local on the Little Missouri Slope--recorded in Dunn, McKenzie, and Slope Counties.

Breeding Habitat. Wooded stream valleys (including floodplain and bluff forests), upland forests of prominent hills and escarpments, tree claims and mature shelterbelts, and partially wooded residential areas of towns and farmsteads. According to Hayden (1862), this species was especially common on wooded islands in a sector of the Missouri River that extended upstream as far as Fort Union.

Nesting. Breeding season: Late May to late July; peak, early June to early July. The earliest record of nest-building was recorded on May 20 [1972] in Richland County (RES). Extreme egg dates (4 nests): June 11 [1901] in Ramsey County (C. W. Bowman) to June 28 [1873] in Pembina County (Coues 1878). Extreme nestling dates (4 nests): June 27 [1896] in Rolette County (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum) to July 6 [1967] in Dunn County (R. L. Kroodsma). Extreme dates of dependent young out of the nest (9 records): July 3 [1893] in Stutsman County (A. K. Fisher) to July 19 [1967] in McLean County (RES).

Three nests were situated in quaking aspen, bur oak, and box elder at elevations ranging from 25 to 35 feet above the ground.

Indicated clutch size (4 nests): 2 to 5 eggs; mean, 4 eggs.

Figure 154. Breeding Range of Baltimore Oriole.