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.
Male Brown-capped Rosy-Finches are indeed brown and rosy, but with a blackish cap, making this species’ name potentially confusing. It currently has a tiny range, breeding only on alpine tundra from southern Wyoming to southern Colorado, and wintering in the surrounding foothills, including in northernmost New Mexico. The pressures it faces are immense: a warming climate will force breeding habitat (alpine tundra) up in elevation. Since the habitat is now restricted to just the very tops of mountains, it will likely disappear completely. Winter habitat (high-elevation forests) is also projected to contract. By 2080, Audubon's climate model predicts that only three percent of the current winter range will have a similar climate to today.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
It's easier than you think to make a difference. Become an Audubon member today to help birds facing climate change.
