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 species is colloquially known as the “snake bird,” due to its habit of riding so low in the water that only its snake-like neck, head, and long, dagger-like bill are visible above the water line. It is often seen soaring high above the ground on long, pointed wings and a fan-shaped tail. Troublingly, Audubon's climate model shows a dramatic northward shift in summer range, with only 5% of its current area remaining stable—something that’s already being observed in places like Illinois. Most of the world’s Anhingas live in Latin America, though, so data from those regions will be needed to make broad predictions about overall future numbers or potential colonization of the predicted expansion of summer range based on Audubon's climate model in the southern United States.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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