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.
The “sagebrush sea” seems so dull from the interstate or from 35,000 feet. Yet it is one of the most exquisitely adapted habitats in the U.S. Several bird species are more or less restricted to sagebrush during the breeding season, this one foremost among them. Sagebrush—a complex of plant species, actually—is already at risk from fire, overgrazing, and biological invasion. Climate change is expected to put further stress on the system. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Audubon's climate model forecasts major losses of suitable climate space during the Sage Thrasher’s summer season. Substantial gains in winter—at which time this thrasher is more of a generalist—may be expected.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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