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.
Among the three bluebird species, this is the one most closely tied to forests—and to forest health. Snag removal, salvage logging, and fire suppression are believed to have contributed to recent population decreases, and the Western Bluebird is declining in or absent from some areas of seemingly suitable habitat. Audubon's climate model forecasts a 63 percent loss of current winter range by 2080. At both times of year, suitable climate space is projected to spread east and a bit north. In order for the bluebirds to follow suit, healthy forests will be required—especially in summer.
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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