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 speci