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 stately and popular game bird frequents oak forests, foraging on the ground for food. While non-migratory, the species does cover miles on foot and has been expanding its range northward in recent years, aided in part by restoration efforts to increase hunting stock. The Wild Turkey may have to trot a little faster to keep up with the projected shifts in both summer and winter climate spaces. According to Audubon's climate model the species will lose 87 percent of current winter range by 2080. Potential expansion during the summer may give the bird a boost in its trek northward, but only if it can find its favored oaks along the way.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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