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By Pepper Trail September 28. 2014 12:01AM Birds sound the alarm on climate change This month, the National Audubon Society released a comprehensive new report entitled "Birds and Climate Change." Like the startling, shrill cry of a bird in the forest, it should shock us all wake. Using data compiled from Christmas Bird Count and North American Breeding Survey records, Audubon scientists defined the “climatic suitability” for 588 bird species — the range of temperatures, precipitation, and seasonal changes each species needs to survive. Then they mapped where each bird’s ideal climatic range may be found in the future as the climate changes, using the latest greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. These maps serve as a guide to how each bird’s current range could expand, contract or shift across three future time periods (2020, 2050, and 2080), and are available on the Internet at climate.audubon.org. The results indicate that more than half of the 588 North American bird species studied face a grim future. The models indicate that 126 “climate endangered” species will lose more than 50 percent of their current range by 2050, and an additional 188 “climate threatened” birds will lose more than 50 percent of their current range by 2080. What to we stand to lose here in Southern Oregon? Not surprisingly, high-elevation species are among the Oregon birds most threatened by climate change. The analyses predict that golden eagles will find suitable climate conditions in only 21 percent of their current range by 2080. By then, Clark’s nutcrackers — those gray-and-black mountaineers that are common and fearless at Crater Lake — are predicted to have lost 84 percent of their current habitat. Even the familiar mountain chickadees will be gone from 71 percent of their current range, as the conifer forests they need are replaced with other kinds of vegetation. These declines will affect our gamebirds as well. ruffed grouse are predicted to lose 77 percent of their current breeding range across the continent, and mountain quail will lose 58 percent. Even many common valley birds, including rufous hummingbirds, white-breasted nuthatches, western tanagers and black-headed grosbeaks, are expected to be gone from over half their current range by 2080. Whether or not birds are an important part of your life, these numbers foretell a catastrophic future. Ever since the effects of pesticides and other environmental poisons were revealed in "Silent Spring," birds have been recognized as exquisitely sensitive environmental indicators. The Audubon report is a loud and clear warning to all of us. If climatic changes as severe as those predicted come to pass, if birds shift their ranges as drastically as predicted, then the world around us will be almost unrecognizable by 2080. How can we expect that the world of birds will be transformed so utterly, and our lives in Southern Oregon will go on as before? Our crops, our forests, our water supply, all will be radically different from what we know. The birds are telling us that this is a world we must not allow to come to pass. The Audubon report concludes with an appeal to commit to the following pledge: “Climate change threatens the birds we see every day. I pledge to help build a brighter future for the 314 birds at risk.” How can we do that? We can literally start in our own backyard, creating a bird-friendly habitat. But we need to go on from there: meeting with local decision-makers to protect important bird habitats (which in southern Oregon include the Denman Wildlife Area, the Table Rocks, and the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges), and most fundamentally, advocating for policies to lower carbon emissions. Specific ideas and strategies are available on the National Audubon Society website, and also at the meetings of the Rogue Valley Audubon Society (www.roguevalleyaudubon.org). The warning call is loud and clear. Let’s take heed, before it’s too late. Pepper Trail is a local naturalist and the conservation co-chairman of the Rogue Valley Audubon Society. http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20140928/OPINION/140929756 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->