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.
Already an endangered species, this bird of old-growth forests is projected to lose 98 percent of its current winter range by 2080, according to Audubon’s climate models. With the more aggressive Barred Owl already displacing this vulnerable species, climate might accelerate this decline even more. The summer season was not modeled as there was not enough data to do so.
Are the projected range maps different from the range maps in field guides? Find the answer here.
This medium-sized owl lives year-round in mature coniferous forests of western North America. In southern reaches of its range, it inhabits canyons and various forest types, but it prefers mature forests. It nests in a tree nook or old, abandoned nest, and preys on small- to medium-sized mammals—especially rodents. In recent years the Barred Owl has expanded into much of its range in the Pacific Northwest, competing with the Spotted Owl and displacing it from many key habitats.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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