Climate change threatens extinction for 64 per cent of bird species across North America: Audubon Society

A study by the Audubon Society warns that climate change threatens extinction for 64 per cent of bird species across North America.

That is 389 species of birds, including almost all species found in the forests and tundra of northern Canada, such as the snowy owl and the Arctic tern.

The study says 98 per cent of the species in the boreal forest that stretches across the northern reaches of almost every province could vanish.

For the Pacific Northwest, the study finds that 54 per cent of  Washington State’s 296 bird species are vulnerable to climate change across seasons.

“A rapidly changing climate could lead to population declines and local extinctions of species are not able to adapt,” the study reads.

But models show that if governments can enact measures to keep warming at 1.5 degrees, the number of species threatened with extinction would drop to just under half.

With files from Canadian Press

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