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.
Encounters with Royal Terns are typically coastal: a tightly bunched group roosting on a barrier beach, a noisy foraging flock just beyond the breakers, or a few patrolling the back bays. Long threatened by coastal development and increasingly at risk from major storms, the Royal Tern now has to contend with climate change. Audubon's climate model, focusing only on climate space in winter, shows both an overall decline of favorable environments and a substantial range shift. Heavy losses of climatically favorable areas along the Gulf Coast may be partially offset by newly created winter environments in the Desert Southwest—but only if this coastal species can quickly adapt to new habitats inland.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
It's easier than you think to make a difference. Become an Audubon member today to help birds facing climate change.
