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.
Olive green on top with a rusty crown, this unique species may be found on or near the ground in brushy areas on mountains or plateaus. Audubon’s climate model predicts a troubling situation in the summer season; an 82% decrease in areas with proper climate is projected, presumably as they are forced up in elevation and into smaller and smaller areas by drier and hotter conditions below. Only 11% of the current range may remain in needed climate space. Things look less dire in winter, though many Green-tailed Towhees winter in Mexico and thus the big picture in that season is less clear.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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