USFS Offers Climate Change Bird Atlas

It's almost spring — and you may already be noticing some migrant birds drifting through your locality (or resident birds behaving in new ways). If you (or your readers) are among the 40-million-plus
birders in the US, you may also be seeing things you haven't seen before, possibly because of wacky weather or even climate change. And maybe you and your readers want to know more.

Now the US Forest Service has published a "Climate Change Bird Atlas" — a database actually — based partly on climate-related changes in tree cover. It maps out current distribution of 147 species and modeled distribution resulting from climate change.

• "A Climate Change Atlas for 147 Bird Species of the Eastern United States" [database], Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Delaware, Ohio, 2007-ongoing, by Matthews, S.N.; Iverson, L.R.; Prasad, A.M.; and Peters, M.P.

We are indebted to Julia Whitty of Mother Jones for calling this to our attention in a February 10, 2012, article.

• See also: "The Birdwatcher's Guide to Global Warming," American Bird Conservancy and National Wildlife Federation, 2002, by Jeff Price and Patricia Glick.