Audubon: Climate Change Threatens Minnesota’s Loons

ST. PAUL (AP) - A National Audubon Society study says climate change threatens Minnesota's state bird, the common loon, along with more than half of its other bird species.

It says other Minnesota birds at risk include the American white pelican, the trumpeter swan, the sharp-tailed grouse and the mallard duck.

The national study says the critical ranges of more than half the 588 North American bird species will either shrink significantly or move into uncharted territory over the next six decades or so.

The report looked at 297 of the 323 birds commonly found in Minnesota. It says 76 of them are at risk of severe declines by 2050 and another 90 face the same fate by 2080.

Audubon Minnesota's executive director, Matthew Anderson, says it provides new urgency for tackling climate change.