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.
Closely related to the familiar Tufted Titmouse in the eastern U.S., the range-restricted Black-crested Titmouse is widespread in southern, central, and western Texas. Where the two titmouse species overlap, there is extensive hybridization. Audubon’s climate model forecasts an unstable climate future for the Black-crested Titmouse: only 14% of the current core of suitable climate space remains stable, but with gains north and east of the current range. If the Black-crested follows the predicted expansion northeastward, it will come into increased contact with the Tufted Titmouse, raising the possibility of extensive interbreeding of the two species.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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