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 Snowy Plover is a paradox: tolerant of some of the most inhospitable habitats in North America, yet quite sensitive to human and natural disturbances. This bird breeds on sunbaked, highly alkaline salt flats, and winters on exposed coastal mudflats. Audubon's climate model, focusing only on the winter range, forecasts a 56 percent loss of current range by 2080, with potential expansion inland and northward of such areas. Whether ideal habitat—extensive open regions in immediate proximity to open water—becomes available will be the chief determinant of the Snowy Plover’s ability to adjust to changing climate.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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