Report Warns Climate Change Could Impact Half Of All North American Bird Species

(CBS SF) -- A dire report about the effects of climate change and birds claims half the species in North America are in danger of losing critical habitat.

The National Audubon Society released an alarming report Tuesday and the local chapter's executive director is worried.

"It's really quite astonishing," said Cindy Margulis, Executive Director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society.  "What they found is that nearly half of all species in North America are actually imperiled by climate conditions that we have set into motion."

The study claims global warming is the cause, but it will take until 2050 or even 2080 to see the effects.

"Seems like a long time to us, but for species that have finely adapted over thousands of years, that's actually a really tight time horizon," Margulis said.

Common birds in our region like, the Allen's hummingbird might loose all its habitat, the black oystercatcher's food supply could be dried up and the brown pelican may be forced north.

UC Berkeley Dr. Steve Beissinger, professor of conservation biology, said the species may not have time to react. "They can move, they can adapt in place or they can go extinct," he said.

The professor points out that global warming may be good for some birds.

"Some of the common ones like mourning doves look like they could be favored by climate change," Bessinger said.

In Washington, where the report was released, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Daniel Ashe says it's not just about the birds.

"Where birds thrive people prosper," Ashe said. "And so as you think of the 2014 State of the Birds report think about that notion, where birds thrive, people prosper."

It may be half a century anyone sees before predictions in the report happen or not, but everyone agrees, change is coming.