Subtle recent distributional shifts in great plains bird species

Changes in geographic distributions of 5 bird species endemic to the Great Plains of North America were examined over the last few decades based on the United States Breeding Bird Survey. Examining the mean latitude of individuals of each species, 3 species showed significant or near-significant northward shifts, and 1 a significant shift southward. Over all 5 species examined, colonization events were concentrated in the northern part of the distributions of the species; in 3 species, extinctions were concentrated in the southern part of the distributions of the species. The conclusion is that significant distributional changes have taken place, but they have been subtle, and might be associated with global climate change.