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 sky-blue jay is one of the most specialized birds in the U.S. and Canada, its entire life history tightly connected with the availability of conifer seeds, with pinyon seeds being highly favored. Already of conservation concern, the Pinyon Jay is projected by Audubon's climate model to be further challenged by climate change. Suitable climate space is forecast to withdraw in both summer and winter as the jay’s range contracts within its current stronghold in the Intermountain West. Healthy pinyon stands are likely essential to future population health for this jay. Pinyons are spreading in some regions. However, ranchers generally remove the trees before they become fully established.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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