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.
It’s a familiar story with this saltwater-loving goose—as the planet warms, Audubon’s climate model predicts that more potentially suitable wintering areas will open up to the north. On the East Coast, this means that “Atlantic Brant” could shift and expand their core winter range from the Long Island Sound area to Nova Scotia and even Newfoundland, and possibly even to the interior of the continent. On the West Coast, the winter climate space for the “Black Brant” form of this species will also significantly shift northward. Overall only 42% of their winter climate space is likely to remain stable. Brant are highly specific in their winter foraging needs; it is open to question if their food sources will be able to shift with the changing climate.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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