Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”
The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).
The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.
The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.
The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.
You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.
By 2080, this hummingbird is expected to lose 90 percent of its current breeding range, according to Audubon’s climate models. In order to adapt, this colorful species may have to transition from coastal areas to more inland ones as its climate space shifts—and find the nectar it needs there.
Close relative of the Rufous Hummingbird, and almost identical to it in some plumages, Allen’s Hummingbird has a much more restricted summer range. While the Rufous nests from Wyoming to southern Alaska, Allen’s nests only in coastal regions of California and southwestern Oregon. During migration seasons, however, they overlap extensively, both traveling to southern Mexico for the winter. Within its summer range, Allen’s Hummingbird is commonly seen in back yards and city parks, where males will perform their spectacular display dives to warn rival males away and attract the attention of females.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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