Audubon study analyzes expected impact of climate change
A National Audubon Society study of bird species in the continental United States and Canada released last week shows that global warming threatens more than half of the bird species in that geographic area, including North Carolina species such as the golden-winged warbler, brown-headed nuthatch and American oystercatcher.
“The results of this study are our wake-up call; we know with certainty that our birds are in trouble and not all of them will be able to survive in a changing climate without our help,” said Audubon North Carolina Executive Director Heather Hahn.
Of the 588 continental United States and Canadian bird species examined in the seven- year study, 314 species are at risk. Of those, about 1 in 5 — 126 species — are at risk of severe declines by 2050, and a further 188 species face the same fate by 2080, with numerous extinctions possible if global warming is allowed to erase the havens birds occupy today, the study says.
The study included an analysis of more than 40 years of historical North American climate data and millions of historical bird records from the U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count to understand the links between where birds live and the climatic conditions that support them.
The study is available at climate.audubon.org.
