Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink
Purple Finch. Photo: Mircea Costina/Alamy

How Climate Change Will Affect Birds in New Hampshire

Vulnerable Birds in New Hampshire

Highly and moderately vulnerable birds may lose more than half of their current range—the geographic area where they live—as they are forced to search for suitable habitat and climate conditions elsewhere.

New Hampshire

Flyway Atlantic Flyway
State Brief Download [PDF]

Below, find out which of the birds that nest or spend the winter in your area are most vulnerable across their entire range. Some birds may lose range outside of your state, making the protection of their current habitat in your area even more important.

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How will the Purple Finch's range be affected in New Hampshire?

Rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns affect birds' ability to find food and reproduce, which over time impacts local populations, and ultimately continent-wide populations, too. Some species may even go extinct in your state if they cannot find the conditions they need to survive and raise their young.

Select a warming scenario to see how this species’ range will change under increased global temperatures.

Reducing warming makes many types of birds found in New Hampshire less vulnerable.

In order to hold warming steady, we must act now to reduce the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere and limit warming to 1.5 degrees. We must reduce our carbon emissions and also absorb what is produced through natural solutions like reforestation or with technology that removes carbon from the air.

Click the three different warming scenarios to explore how increased warming puts more species in New Hampshire at risk.

New Hampshire's Birds and Habitats

Along New Hampshire’s shoreline, the estuaries of Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge attract waterfowl, wading birds, and breeding forest birds, including Black-and-white Warbler and Ovenbird. In winter, the coastal waters off Odiorne Point State Park support scoters, loons, grebes, and seabirds, while Purple Sandpipers and an occasional Snowy Owl can be spotted on beaches. Bicknell’s Thrush, Blackburnian Warbler, and other boreal species live on the peak of Mount Washington and in the White Mountains along the Maine border.


Climate Policy in New Hampshire

Electricity Generation Breakdown
19.7%
RENEWABLE
2.4 % Wind
9.2 % Biomass
8.1 % Hydro
57.3%
NUCLEAR
22.7%
FOSSIL FUEL
20.5 % Natural Gas
1.6 % Coal
.6 % Petroleum
.3%
OTHER
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets
20%
BELOW 1990
levels by 2025
80%
BELOW 1990
levels by 2050
Renewable Portfolio Standard
25.2%
BY 2025
Member of the US
Climate Alliance?
No

(Data: U.S. EIA)

Guided by its 2009 climate action plan, New Hampshire is taking steps to prepare for climate change. In 2019, the state legislature passed a law to expand community solar and another to guide the state in coastal adaptation planning, based on its coastal risk and hazard report. Several cities in New Hampshire have climate change assessments or plans, including Concord, Durham, Portsmouth, and Keene.

New Hampshire is a participant in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States that aims to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.

Climate Threats Facing Birds and People in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has warmed between 2 and 3 degrees Fahrenheit in the last century, shortening the winter recreation season and posing threats to crop yields. Sea levels have risen up to seven inches since 1950 and could rise another inch in the next 10 years, eroding beaches and wetlands and increasing damage from coastal storms. Warming temperatures encourage disease and pest spread, such as ticks carrying Lyme disease and the tree-killing hemlock woolly adelgid.


The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk harm people, too. Hover over or tap an area on the map to see specific threats that will affect that area as warming increases.