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.
“Timberdoodle,” “bogsucker,” even “hookum pate”—those are some of the names given to one of our strangest sandpipers, the American Woodcock. This highly terrestrial shorebird nests in upland woods and thickets. Even in winter, it eschews aquatic habitats, again preferring areas with woody vegetation. Audubon's climate model shows an overall increase and northward expansion of areas of suitable climate in winter. In summer, though, overall loss and northward movement of suitable climate space are forecast. Fortunately, the species responds well to aggressive habitat management by humans—an action that may be increasingly required on the breeding grounds in the decades to come.
Are the projected range maps different from the range maps in field guides? Find the answer here.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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