Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Breeding Range. (Fig. 120). Common in the Turtle Mountains, in the Agassiz Lake Plain Region, and on the Southern Drift Plain; fairly common (locally common) on the Northeastern and Northwestern Drift Plains, Coteau Slope, and Little Missouri Slope; uncommon and local on the Missouri Coteau and Missouri Slope.
Breeding Habitat. A forest edge species that is characteristic of wood margins or semiopen woodland including floodplain forests along streams, lake shore forests around permanent lakes, and upland forests on high morainic hills and north- or east-facing slopes of river bluffs, escarpments, and buttes. This species also is of regular occurrence in partially wooded habitats created by man including residential areas of towns and farmsteads, and mature shelterbelts and tree claims.
Nesting. Breeding season: Mid-May to late August; peak, late May to mid-July. Nest-building was recorded as early as May 16 [1942] in Grand Forks County (L. Summers). Extreme egg dates (39 nests): May 29 [1968] in Ramsey County (RES) to July 22 [1972] in Stutsman County (D. J. Nilson). Nestlings were recorded as early as June 21 [1915] in Grand Forks County (fully-fledged young--R. Kellogg) and as late as August 12 [1915] in Morton County (half-grown young--H. H. Sheldon). A brood of dependent, flying young was observed as late as August 21 [1916] in Ramsey County (F. M. Bailey).
Nests were located in a considerable variety of situations. Most nests were built in holes of stumps, dead trees, and dead snags of living trees, or in small bird boxes. During 1972 in Morton County, 106 out 236 nest boxes erected for bluebirds were occupied by House Wrens (F. Goldmann). In 1969, H. A. Doty found 11 nests in metal wood duck boxes on the Arrowhead National Wildlife Refuge. Other nests have been situated as follows: in a crevice within an old Swainson's Hawk nest and in a pair of old overalls hanging in a tree in Nelson County (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum); in Bank Swallow holes in Eddy and Nelson Counties (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum) and in Burke County (R. T. and A. M. Gammell); in an old boot hanging on side of a cabin near Devils Lake (Bryant 1894); between a window and broken screen in a hunter's lodge in Ramsey County (F. M. Bailey); on a beam in a shed in Morton County (H. H. Sheldon); in a crevice of a porch roof in Billings County (S. G. Jewett); in a twine box on a binder in Grand Forks County (R. Kellogg); and in a knot hole of a log in a log house in Rolette County (Bishop egg collection catalog, Peabody Museum).
Indicated clutch size (13 nests): 5 to 8 eggs; mean, 6.5 eggs.
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| Figure 120. Breeding Range of House Wren. |
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U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/bbofnd/species/7210.htm
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