A Little Brown Bird, Struggling to Hang On

The Saltmarsh Sparrow is a little brown bird with an orange face. It lives in the salt marshes of coastal areas, including New York City — but those habitats are shrinking, and the bird's population is shrinking along with it. Only about 53,000 coastal sparrows live in the United States right now, compared with almost double that 10 years ago. 

Part of that decline is due to rising sea levels.

"It's been predicted that there's only about a five centimeter difference between a nest that survives tidal flooding and those that fail. And so as sea levels rise, more nests are lost to tidal flooding," said Alison Kocek, a bird expert at the Salt Marsh Habitat and Avian Research Program.

Kocek said that many bird species move north as the climate warms up, but Saltmarsh Sparrows have limited options — because, well, they need salt marshes. 

Salt marshes are being restored in some places of the city, but Kocek says more needs to be done in order to preserve and create ecosystems that the bird can thrive in.  

"If we restore marshes that are great for these birds to use, then all the other animals and plants that use these marshes should also be able to survive," she said.

Experts predict that unless something is done, the bird will disappear from New York within 30 years.

For more information on New York birds endangered by climate change, see the National Audubon Society's Birds and Climate Change Study. 

Graphical chart showing the percentage loss of New York bird ranges in the Summer season.

(Source: Birds and Climate Change Study, National Audubon Society. Illustrations: Clarisa Diaz, WNYC.)