Global warming imperils half of North America's bird species, says Audubon report

A report by the National Audubon Society says that the habitats for more than half of North America's 588 bird species will shrink significantly or move to an entirely new location.

|
David Brezinski/US Fish and Wildlife Service/AP
This undated handout photo provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a male Baltimore oriole. As the world warms, the Baltimore oriole will not be found in Maryland in 2080, the Mississippi kite will move north, east and pretty much out of its namesake state, and the California gull will mostly be a summer stranger to the Golden State, a new National Audubon Society report finds.

As the world gets warmer, the Baltimore oriole will no longer be found in Maryland. The Mississippi kite will move north, east and pretty much out of its namesake state. And the California gull will mostly be a summer stranger to the Golden State.

Those are among the conclusions in a new National Audubon Society report that looks at the potential effects of global warming on birds by the year 2080.

"This will spell trouble for most birds," said Gary Langham, the society's chief scientist and vice president.

Over the next six decades or so, the critical ranges of more than half the 588 North American bird species will either shrink significantly or move into uncharted territory for the animal, according to Langham's analysis.

While other studies have made similar pronouncements, this report gives the most comprehensive projections of what is likely to happen to America's birds.

The report says that in a few decades, 126 bird species will end up with a much smaller area to live in, which the society says will make them endangered. An additional 188 species will lose more than half their natural range but relocate to new areas. Those moves will be threatening to the birds' survival, too, because they will be confronted with different food and soil, bird experts said.

Other birds, including backyard regulars like the American robin and the blue jay, will fly in even more places, the report says. And some of the biggest potential winners aren't exactly birds that people like — species such as the turkey vulture, the American crow and the mourning dove, which will expand their ranges tremendously.

"If you want to know what the climate change future sounds like, it sounds a lot like a mourning dove," Langham said. Some people find annoying the singing of the mourning dove, which will more than double its range.

Langham used bird survey data in summer and winter from 2000 to 2009 and correlated it to climate conditions to come up with simulations of how bird ranges will change. He then tested the simulations against past data from 1980 to 1999, and they worked. Then he used United Nations carbon pollution scenarios from 2007 to project bird ranges in 2020, 2040 and 2080.

The report is not yet peer-reviewed, which is crucial in science. It has been sent to a scientific journal but has not yet been accepted. However, Langham said it is based on a report Audubon did last year that was commissioned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm dismissed the study as too general, poorly executed and not that new. But other scientists, such as Stanford University biologist Terry Root, said the Audubon report makes sense and looks trustworthy. A third biologist, A. Townsend Peterson of the University of Kansas, faulted some of the methods used but praised the overall comprehensiveness of the study.

"It's very scary," Root said. "People need to stand up and take note."

On Tuesday, several federal agencies, Cornell University and a number of private organizations will release a separate U.S. "state of the birds" report, and the outlook will be bleak.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology director John Fitzpatrick wrote in a preview last month in The New York Times that 230 species "are currently in danger of extinction or at risk of becoming so" and that two dozen common birds, such as nighthawks, are showing "early warning signals of distress."

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Global warming imperils half of North America's bird species, says Audubon report
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0910/Global-warming-imperils-half-of-North-America-s-bird-species-says-Audubon-report
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe