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Breeding Range. (Fig. 129). Fairly common on the Little Missouri Slope; uncommon and local in the northwestern portion of the Coteau Slope (within Mountrail and Williams Counties), in the Turtle Mountains, and on the Souris Lake Plain in McHenry County; rare and local in northwestern Ward County.

Breeding Habitat. This species is especially characteristic of the habitat mosaic of the badlands, which includes combinations of severely eroded and sparsely vegetated slopes of buttes and arroyos, patches of tall shrubs, clumps of trees, and scattered tracts of prairie and sagebrush. It also occurs as a wood margin species in forested areas.

Nesting. Probable breeding season: Early May to early August. On May 6 [1973] in Billings County, an adult female was observed entering a hole in a steep bank about 10 feet above level ground (A. T. Klett). On June 24 [1843], a nest with six eggs was located in a tree stump near Fort Union in Williams County (Audubon 1897). Nestlings were recorded on May 30, 1937 in Billings County (S. H. Low). In 1972, an occupied nest was found in an old can [presumably above the ground] in the Turtle Mountains within Bottineau County, and two sets of four or five young were raised during the summer (O. Magnuson). Dates of 10 records of dependent young out of the nest ranged from late June [1959] in Ward County (R. T. and A. M. Gammell) to July 24 [1962] in Dunn County (RES). The number of young in six broods of flying young ranged from 5 to 6, and averaged 5.3.

Figure 129. Breeding Range of Mountain Bluebird.