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.
Tiny and fearless, this forest owl occurs widely in pinewoods in the West. Northern Pygmy-Owls prey on a wide range of small birds, and they tend to be fairly common (although greatly under-detected) year-round throughout their range. While these owls are not usually considered to be a species of conservation concern, it may become the case. Audubon's climate model forecasts substantial losses of both summer and winter ranges, with no potential for expansion. Basically, climatically suitable areas for this owl are predicted to contract within the species’ current range. Assuming the species remains tied to western conifer forests, it will likely occupy a smaller range by the end of the century.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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