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.
The endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker is in “critical but stable” ecological condition at this time. Its numbers are perilously low, but nest sites are well-protected, and aggressive recovery efforts are working. This species is not modeled for the summer season, as it is not well sampled by the Breeding Bird Survey, but in the winter season Audubon’s climate model predicts concern for the future. Only one-third of the current winter range is climatically stable, and local populations are highly devoted to more-or-less permanent colonies. In other words, they may not be able or willing to get up and go. Regardless of climate change, this woodpecker will continue to require active intervention—especially controlled burns.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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