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Breeding Range. (Fig. 171). Common on the Missouri Coteau; fairly common on the Northwestern Drift Plain, Coteau Slope, Missouri Slope, and in the southern portion of the Little Missouri Slope (Bowman and Slope Counties); uncommon elsewhere on the Little Missouri Slope and on the Northeastern Drift Plain (formerly more numerous) and Southern Drift Plain; rare or absent in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region. Breeding populations have been greatly reduced from former times, due largely to the extensive elimination of numerous tracts of native prairie by agricultural development.

Breeding Habitat. Optimum natural habitats include extensive, idle or lightly grazed tracts of mixed-grass prairie and local pockets of wet-meadow zone or tall-grass prairie that are situated in lowland areas along the periphery of prairie ponds and lakes or along intermittent streams. More heavily grazed tracts of mixed-grass prairie also are utilized to a limited extent. Throughout the Prairie Pothole Region, the Baird's Sparrow is usually of regular occurrence on upland as well as lowland tracts of native prairie, while in the Southwestern Slope Region, it is largely restricted to lowland tracts.

Characteristic plant species in tracts of mixed-grass prairie that are utilized include blue grama, needle-and-thread, green needlegrass, western wheatgrass, little bluestem, prairie junegrass, and needleleaf sedge. Some of the prevalent plant species in lowland areas with wet-meadow zones or tall-grass prairie are: northern reedgrass, fowl bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, prairie cordgrass, slender wheatgrass, switchgrass, big bluestem, Baltic rush, slender sedge, and woolly sedge.

Certain types of disturbance habitats created by man also are extensively used by Baird's Sparrows. These include alfalfa, smooth brome, and intermediate wheatgrass hayfields, weedy stubble fields, and tracts of retired cropland. The more common established plant species of retired cropland are: intermediate wheatgrass, crested wheatgrass, smooth brome, alfalfa, and sweetclover.

Nesting. Breeding season: Late May to mid-August; peak, early June to late July. Extreme egg dates (23 nests): June 5 [1919] in Benson County (P. B. Peabody) to July 21 [1901] in Towner County (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum). Nestlings were recorded on June 26 [1895] in Towner County (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum). Dependent young out of the nest were observed as early as June 30 [1967] in Mountrail County and as late as August 18 [1972] in Benson County (RES).

All nests found were situated on the ground, usually in fairly dense herbaceous vegetation. Details concerning three nest sites in Benson County are described by Rolfe (1896c).

Indicated clutch size (15 nests): 4 to 5 eggs; mean, 4.7 eggs.

Figure 171. Breeding Range of Baird's Sparrow.

Baird's Sparrow