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.
Often heard deep within northern forests as it drums on top of logs for mates, this species is projected to lose 34 percent of breeding range by 2080, according to Audubon’s climate model. Across both seasons the climate range is projected to drift north to the extent that it may no longer occur in the Lower 48 by the end of the century. Whether the forests it depends on will expand northward, too, remains to be seen.
This small, chicken-like bird lives year-round in the forests of northern North America. It’s named for the ruff of blackish feathers on the sides of the neck, larger in the male, which may be flared out when the bird is agitated. During the male’s “drumming” display, used in territorial defense and courtship, the ruff is so extended that it looks like a wide, fluffy black collar around the neck. In a normal posture, the black feathers of the ruff are barely visible. Ruffed Grouse occur in two color morphs, grayish or reddish, with the difference most obvious on the broad tail feathers. While it isn’t migratory, the Ruffed Grouse has been known to change its territory periodically. Its diet changes slightly depending upon the season, but is largely composed of leaves, berries, acorns, twigs, buds, and insects.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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