Selected Articles
- State of the Birds 2019 Nearly 30% of our birds have disappeared in the last 50 years: New research published in the journal Science shows massive losses among U.S. bird populations—with steep declines in every habitat.
- Migratory Birds Bumped off Schedule as Climate Change Shifts Spring Climate change is altering the delicate seasonal clock that North American migratory songbirds rely on to successfully mate and raise healthy offspring, setting in motion a domino effect that could threaten the survival of many familiar backyard bird species, new research shows.
- The Birds and Climate Change Report: 314 Species on the Brink (The Audubon Society) Shrinking and shifting ranges could imperil nearly half of U.S. birds within this century.
- State of the world's birds: taking the pulse of the planet State of the World’s Birds is BirdLife’s flagship science publication, providing a global overview of the state of birds, the pressures they face and the actions underway to save them. Birds are more popular and better studied than any other comparable group and are consequently an excellent means through which to take the pulse of the planet. So, while the report focuses on birds, its conclusions are relevant to biodiversity more generally.
- Collapse of a desert bird community over the past century driven by climate change Our resurveys of sites originally visited in the early 20th century found Mojave Desert birds strongly declined in occupancy and sites lost nearly half of their species. Declines were associated with climate change, particularly decreased precipitation.
Source: Massachusetts Audubon Society
Ornithological Data Tools
- eBird Science eBird data are a powerful resource for a wide range of scientific questions. eBird Status and Trends highlights Cornell Lab analyses of continental bird abundances, range boundaries, habitats, and trends.
- Birdlife International Datazone Most bird species are quite widespread and have large ranges. However, over 2,500 are restricted to an area smaller than 50,000 km2, and they are said to be endemic to it. BirdLife has identified regions of the world where the distributions of two or more of these restricted-range species overlap to form Endemic Bird Areas.
- Bird Life International's Datazone Climate Change Maps Here you can view maps of the projected distributions of bird species under climate change. At present, these maps are available only for bird species breeding in sub-Saharan Africa, and can be viewed by entering the English or scientific name in the box below, or by clicking on ‘Projected distribution under climate change’ in the ‘key facts box’ on the right-hand side of each species factsheet.
- Species Conservation Profiles The PIF Watch List includes 86 species—species of highest conservation concern at the continental (range-wide) scale. Some of these species are already recognized as federally threatened or endangered in the U.S. and Canada. The Watch List fosters proactive conservation that will help recover populations of the most at-risk species and keep the remaining species from becoming endangered. | Watch List definitions explained.
