Hundreds of US Bird Species Threatened by Climate Change

Hundreds of bird species throughout the nation are growing more and more threatened by climate change, which continues to shrink their native habitats and push them into uncharted territory, according to a new National Audubon Society report released Monday.

Passenger pigeons, one of America's most iconic birds, officially went extinct 100 years ago, and scientists behind the report note that many more bird species could soon meet the same fate.

For example, the Baltimore oriole will probably no longer live in Maryland, the California gull may no longer live in its name state, and the trumpeter swan could be entirely gone.

At least, that's according to the report, which found that a warming world is likely to disrupt about half of the approximately 650 species living in North America, driving them to smaller spaces or new habitats over the next 65 years. And if they don't adapt quickly - which may be difficult for certain species - they could face extinction.

"This will spell trouble for most birds," Gary Langham, the society's chief scientist and vice president, told The Associated Press (AP).

The findings say that 126 bird species will end up in much smaller habitats than what they're used to, making them endangered, and an additional 188 species will lose more than half their natural range, forcing them to relocate. Langham used bird survey from 2000 to 2009 and compared it to climate conditions to determine how bird ranges will change in the near future.

"The decline points to a very broad-scale problem where we're seeing habitat loss and a variety of threats," Steve Holmer of the American Bird Conservancy, one of the 23 organizations that contributed to the State of the Birds report, told BBC News. "We're particularly concerned about the birds that live in deserts and grasslands in the West, such as the sage grouse. These lands are being heavily used and there's a great deal of oil and gas development, so it's created a huge conservation challenge."

Birds living on the coasts, such as ruddy turnstones, red knots and piping plovers, aren't faring any better, as they are either endangered or at risk of becoming so. But among the most threatened species are the three-toed woodpecker, the northern hawk owl, the northern gannet, Baird's sparrow, the rufous hummingbird and the trumpeter swan, the report said. They are among the 30 species that, by 2050, will no longer be able to live and breed in more than 90 percent of their current territory.

David Yarnold, the president of the National Audubon Society, notes that while birds are for the most part resilient animals, climate change will truly test their limits.

"We just don't know whether they'll be able to find the food sources and the habitat and cope with a new range of predators," Yarnold told The New York Times. "Maybe they'll all be incredibly hardy and find ways to survive."

Though, he adds, that doesn't seem likely.