Canada warbler

Rising temperatures could make some U.S. state birds ‘stateless’

A report released by the National Audubon Society predicts a dire future for North America’s birds if climate change isn't slowed.

The Canada warbler has lost 63 percent of its population since 1970. Its numbers are likely to decrease further as climate change alters its habitat, according to a new Audubon report.

Photograph by George Grall, Nat Geo Image Collection

As they soar through the sky, birds seem blissfully impervious to the stresses of Earth. Indeed, their ability to migrate makes them more resilient to habitat disruption than less dynamic creatures.

That makes the most recent annual report produced by the National Audubon Society, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting birds and their habitat, particularly startling.

Released today, the report predicts that if Earth continues to warm according to current trends—rising 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100—more than two-thirds of North America’s bird species will be vulnerable to extinction due to range loss. (A March 2019 study, suggests that drastic and immediate action will be necessary to slow warming to just 2 degrees by 2100.)

While such projections are concerning

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