Birds and climate change: ecological disruption in motion

source: Audubon
"Amid mounting concerns over accelerating global climate change, Audubon looked to the birds to determine if and how these sensitive creatures might be responding to changes here in the continental U.S. Birders have long reported surprising sightings of species far north of expected ranges. But are the reports significant? If so, are they connected to documented changes in our climate? Analyses of four decades of Christmas Bird Count data provide some answers. The results confirm what bird lovers have long suspected. Findings summarized in the pages that follow offer a look at forty years of change, a peek at what the future likely holds in one part of our nation, and an urgent message of warning from the birds—a message we would be wise to heed."