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.
This immense owl is a scarce, sought-after icon of the boreal forest. It occurs at the present time chiefly in Canada and Alaska, with outposts in widely scattered locations like Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks. Audubon's climate model shows northward movement of the range, but not nearly enough to compensate for losses within the region of current climate suitability, and much of the new climate space is north of the boreal forests this owl needs. The isolated populations in the Lower 48 states appear to be particularly threatened by climate change. If there’s a silver lining to the cloud looming over the Great Gray Owl’s future, it’s that boreal forest conservation is a top priority for our continent’s wildlife managers.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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