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 colorful pinhead of a sandpiper probably isn’t on most people’s conservation radar, as it is generally common—even locally abundant—within its range. Audubon's climate model, however, suggest that the Wilson’s Phalarope may be in serious trouble. The model forecasts a distressing 100 percent loss of current range by 2080, across areas of suitable climate for breeding—basically, wetlands in the Great Plains and Intermountain West. The bad news may be even worse: the species depends critically on highly saline large lakes (Mono Lake, Great Salt Lake, etc.) for its mid-summer molt, and such habitats are widely thought to be already deteriorating because of climate change.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
It's easier than you think to make a difference. Become an Audubon member today to help birds facing climate change.
