Can the humble chickadee help point the way to the truth about climate change? According to a new study by the National Audubon Society, birds that stay the winter on the North American continent are moving their ranges ever-further north in pursuit of their preferred winter climate.
Using citizen-gathered data from the past 40 years of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count , the society found that 58 percent of the 305 widespread species that winter on the continent shifted significantly north since 1968, some by hundreds of miles.
The little boreal chickadee, which resides mainly in Canada, but can also be found in the high country of the Adirondacks, has moved its range northward by more than 200 miles during that period, according to the study.
In New York State, birds like the eastern bluebird and robin are also extending their winter ranges northward because of increasingly mild winters and reduced snowcover.
“Experts predict that global warming will mean dire consequences, even extinction, for many bird species, and this analysis suggests that that the process leading down that path is already well underway,” said Audubon President John Flicker. “We’re witnessing an uncontrolled experiment on the birds and the world we share with them.”