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Breeding Range. (Fig. 173). Locally common on the Northeastern Drift Plain and Northwestern Drift Plain (especially numerous in Nelson County and McHenry County); fairly common, locally, in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region and on the Southern Drift Plain; uncommon on the Missouri Coteau and in the Turtle Mountains; rare and local in the southwestern portion of the Missouri Slope--record of a singing male, apparently on breeding territory, in Adams County on June 9, 1970.

Yearly fluctuations in local breeding populations are often apparent. Usually, this species reaches peak numbers during wet years, while during dry years it may be scarce or absent.

Breeding Habitat. Fens represent the optimum breeding habitat for this species in North Dakota. Vegetation of these hummocky, alkaline-type bogs is composed of a considerable variety of species. Some of the more characteristic plants include fowl mannagrass, tufted hairgrass, water sedge, beaked sedge, slender spikerush, narrowleaf cottongrass, Torrey's rush, common waterhemlock, swamp milkweed, rush aster, clustered sunflower, and hoary willow.

Other natural habitats that are occasionally occupied by fairly large numbers of breeding pairs include lowland tracts of tall-grass prairie, and wet-meadow zones that are located on the periphery of prairie ponds and lakes or along intermittent streams. Typical tall-grass prairie species include big bluestem, switchgrass, slender wheatgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, tall goldenrod and narrowleaf sunflower. The more numerous wet-meadow species are prairie cordgrass, fowl bluegrass, northern reedgrass, Baltic rush, Sartwell's sedge, slender sedge, and woolly sedge.

Disturbance habitats created by man such as domestic hayfields and retired cropland also are occasionally occupied by Le Conte's Sparrows. Established plant species in these habitats usually include smooth brome, tall or intermediate wheatgrass, and alfalfa or sweetclover.

Frequently, Short-billed Marsh Wrens and Le Conte's Sparrows occur together in the same breeding areas. Locally, Sharp-tailed Sparrows are also common associates in some of the wetter types of habitat.

Nesting. Probable breeding season: Mid-May to early September; peak, late May to mid-August. Extreme egg dates (4 nests): May 27 [1917] in Richland County (Jensen 1918) to June 19 [1966] in McHenry County (Murray 1969). On August 1 [1920], dependent young out of the nest were recorded in Rolette County (Wood 1923), and on September 6 [1922], a bird in juvenal plumage was collected in Kidder County (A. Wetmore).

Nests are situated on the ground in dense herbaceous vegetation.

Indicated clutch size (4 nests): each nest with 4 eggs.

Figure 173. Breeding Range of Le Conte's Sparrow.

Le Conte's Sparrow and Sharp-tailed Sparrow