Audubon: Climate Change Threatens Minnesota Birds

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The haunting cry of the common loon, Minnesota's state bird, could disappear from the state due to climate change, along with more than half of Minnesota's other bird species, according to a study by the National Audubon Society.

Other Minnesota birds at risk include the American white pelican, the trumpeter swan, the sharp-tailed grouse and the mallard duck, according to the study released Tuesday.

The national study said the critical ranges of more than half the 588 North American bird species will either shrink significantly or shift over the next six decades or so, threatening their survival either way. The report looked at 297 of the 323 bird species commonly found in Minnesota. Of the 297, it said, 76 are at risk of severe declines by 2050 and another 90 face the same fate by 2080.

"The Audubon report shows that we could lose the common loon, the voice of Minnesota," Audubon Minnesota's executive director, Matthew Anderson, said in a statement. "One in two bird species are at risk from climate change. Everyone — not just birders and hunters — stands to lose out. We have new urgency for tackling climate change."

While some species will be able to adapt, the report said, many of North America's most familiar and iconic species will not. While the American robin and blue jay will expand their range, it said, so will less popular species such as the turkey vulture and the American crow.

Anderson said the solution is to "protect the habitat birds need today and in the future while reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

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