NPWRC :: Avian Use of Sheyenne Lake and Associated Habitats in Central North Dakota

**Table 1.** *Climatological characteristics during 1980 at the Sheyenne Lake Study Area, compared with the norm.*
Month and feature		1980	Normal	Percentage deviation
April	Precipitation (cm)	Trace	3.58	- 100
April	Temperature (°C)	9.2	5.1	+ 44.6
May	Precipitation (cm)	3.37	6.09	- 44.7
May	Temperature (°C)	16.3	12.0	+ 26.4
June	Precipitation (cm)	15.6	8.89	+ 43.0
June	Temperature (°C;)	18.8	17.2	+ 8.51

**Table 2.** *Total area, proportional distribution, and area censused of habitat types of the Sheyenne Lake Study Area.*
Habitat type		Area (ha)	Percent of study area	Area censused (ha)	Percent of habitat sampled
Uplands	Cropland	3,872.5	47.1	421.7	10.9
	Native prairie	1,941.3	23.6	460.4	23.7
	Shelterbelt	170.0	2.1	5.3	3.1
	Subtotal	5,983.8	72.8	887.4
Wetlands	Ephemeral	46.5	0.6	ª
	Wet meadow	572.5	6.9	86.7	15.1
	Seasonal	222.7	2.7	23.8	10.7
	Semipermanent	249.8	3.0	19.5	7.8
	Permanent	697.9	8.5	75.5	10.8
	Alkali	207.7	2.5	43.9	21.1
Prairie thicket		237.6	2.9	19.3	8.1
Subtotal		2,234.7	27.1	268.7
Grand total		8,218.5	99.9	1,156.1	14.0
ªEphemeral wetlands were dry throughout the study period and were not censused.

**Table 4.** *Population estimates of major bird species on the Sheyenne Lake Study Area, in 1980, compared with statewide means described in Stewart and Kantrud (1972).*
Species	Population estimate and HPDª interval	Density (pairs/km²)
Species	Population estimate and HPDª interval	Study area	Statewide
Red-winged blackbird	2,855 (1,963-3,747)	34.77	11.44
Yellow-headed blackbird	1,904 (1,194-2,615)	23.19	1.11
Mourning dove	1,371 (897-1,845)	16.69	3.50
Blue-winged teal	1,052 (369-1,736)	12.48	3.72
Brown-headed cowbird	845 (552-1,138)	10.29	5.47
Horned lark	812 (613-1,011)	9.89	14.90
Clay-colored sparrow	645 (414-875)	7.85	4.34
Gadwall	636 (213-1,057)	7.75	1.19
Grasshopper sparrow	616 (388-844)	7.50	3.51
Chestnut-collared longspur	599 (369-830)	7.29	13.44
Mallard	594 (323-867)	7.23	2.59
Western kingbird	572 (199-946)	6.96	1.22
Eastern kingbird	529 (367-692)	6.44	1.94
Common yellow-throat	436 (272-599)	5.31	1.60
Western meadowlark	414 (343-485)	5.04	10.97
Savannah sparrow	395 (264-526)	4.81	6.23
Long-billed marsh wren	373 (152-595)	4.54	^b
Yellow warbler	359 (173-546)	4.37	1.32
Brown thrasher	355 (91-619)	4.32	0.49
Northern shoveler	353 (93-613)	4.30	^b
Pintail	330 (175-485)	4.02	2.09
Black tern	314 (0-609)	3.82	1.48
Bobolink	312 (152-471)	3.80	2.57
Common grackle	305 (49-562)	3.71	1.86
American goldfinch	299 (122-475)	3.64	1.28
Sora	298 (181-416)	3.62	0.35
Lark bunting	247 (57-436)	3.00	7.21
Killdeer	234 (114-355)	2.85	1.25
Song sparrow	233 (150-317)	2.83	0.65
American coot	225 (65-386)	2.74	4.18
Ruddy duck	188 (26-349)	2.29	^b
Wilson's phalarope	186 (0-386)	2.26	0.94
Barn swallow	177 (73-280)	2.15	1.17
Gray catbird	174 (0-351)	2.12	0.58
Least flycatcher	165 (28-300)	2.00	^b
Willow flycatcher	154 (95-213)	1.87	0.34
ªHighest probability density. ^bNo data available.

**Table 5.** *Population characteristics of breeding waterfowl at the Sheyenne Lake Study Area, 1980.*
Species		Study area		Mean (pairs/km²)ª
Species		Projected population	Density (pairs/km²)	Statewide	Physiographic region
Dabblers	Mallard	594	7.23	2.8	2.1
Gadwall	636	7.74	1.9	1.6
Pintail	330	4.01	2.8	2.9
American Wigeon	10	0.11	0.3	0.5
Green-winged teal	71	0.86	0.7	0.9
Blue-winged teal	1,052	12.8	5.3	2.6
Northern shoveler	353	4.29	1.5	1.4
Subtotal		3,046	34.04	15.3	12.0
Diving Ducks	Redhead	141	1.71	0.7	0.5
	Canvasback	77	0.93	0.2	0.04
	Lesser Scaup	27	0.32	0.1	0.07
	Ring-necked duck	13	0.16	0.07	0.04
	Ruddy duck	188	2.29	0.6	0.5
Subtotal		446	5.41	1.67	1.15
	Canada goose	9	0.11	^b	^b
Grand total		3,501	42.56	16.97	13.15
^aAfter Stewart and Kantrud (1974) ^bNo data available.

**Table 6.** *Ecological distribution of breeding waterfowl at the Sheyenne Lake Study Area, 1980.*
Wetland class	No. of species	No. of breeding pairs	Percent of total breeding pairs	Statewide mean percentª
Seasonal	6	364	10.4	42
Semi-permanent	8	923	26.4	27
Permanent	13	1,551	44.3	3
Alkali	10	663	18.9	<0.5
Totals		3,501	100.0
ªStewart and Kantrud 1973.

**Table 7.** *Characteristics of breeding bird populations in the major habitat types, Sheyenne Lake Study Area, 1980.*
Habitat	Species richness	Mean density (pairs/km²)	Estimated breeding bird population	Species diversity (H')	Species equitability (J')
Shelterbelt	24	2,658.7	4,521	3.7498	0.8178
Semipermanent wetland	22	1,357.8	3,393	3.4142	0.7656
Prairie thicket	19	878.5	2,089	3.5839	0.8436
Seasonal Wetland	25	574.0	1,279	3.4750	0.7483
Permanent wetland	36	527.4	3,683	4.2761	0.8270
Alkali wetland	17	450.8	937	3.3297	0.8146
Wet meadow	19	319.7	1,832	3.1988	0.7530
Upland native prairie	20	142.2	2,763	3.3695	0.7796
Cropland	13	33.6	1,301	2.2607	0.6109


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Avian Use of Sheyenne Lake and Associated Habitats in Central North Dakota