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 bird’s name fits in winter, when it inhabits open country from the Great Plains west to the Pacific Ocean. In summer, though, the bird is more of a “canyon falcon” or “cliff falcon.” Audubon's climate model shows contrasting climate futures for this bird. The winter range is fairly stable, although with some movement eastward—a result already anticipated by winter records well east of the core range. The summer range is projected to contract by more than three-quarters, unwelcome news for an already scarce species. Fortunately, the species enjoys full protection and vigorous monitoring by biologists; continued strong legal protection will be vital to sustain the Prairie Falcon.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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