UPDATE: Travel to Belize with Audubon, this November 2018! Learn about this exciting 8-day expedition here.

Across the world, people have been inspired to take action for birds and find solutions to the conservation challenges they face. Audubon’s groundbreaking Birds and Climate Change Report revealed that more than half of North America’s birds are being impacted by climate change.

For the Wood Thrush, a bird that travels thousands of miles between its breeding grounds in eastern North America to its wintering grounds in Central America, the threats of climate change are compounded by dwindling habitat. Thanks to the efforts of Forsyth Audubon’s Wood Thrush Tracking Project in North Carolina, we now know that at least some North Carolina Wood Thrush winter in Belize, providing a critical piece to the broader Wood Thrush migratory puzzle. The effort to expand our knowledge of Wood Thrush migration is being led by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and Audubon’s International Alliances Program.

This newly discovered Wood Thrush connection between North Carolina’s breeding grounds and Belize’s wintering grounds has further inspired action to help this beloved bird. According to Audubon’s Birds and Climate Change Report, the Wood Thrush is predicted to lose up to 82 percent of its summer range by 2080.

Connecting Conservation Heroes for the Wood Thrush

Audubon and the Climate Listening Project partnered to capture the story of the Wood Thrush as told through the people taking action for birds and climate change. Watch The Wood Thrush Connection below.

In an effort to mobilize conservation action across our state, the Wood Thrush was named Audubon North Carolina’s 2015 Bird of the Year to help educate and inspire citizens to take action for the benefit of birds and to increase the resilience of birds adapting to the effects of climate change.

Audubon scientists and researchers are working across borders toward a full life-cycle approach to conservation. Tracking projects mapping migration routes, encouraging proper forest management, planting Bird-Friendly Native Plants, educating on the importance of Lights Out in urban centers, and promoting citizen science activities can all help build resiliency for the Wood Thrush.

It will take all of us acting together to secure a better future for the birds we care about.

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A special thank you to the partners that made this video possible: Forsyth Audubon, Audubon North Carolina, the National Audubon Society, Audubon’s International Alliances Program, the Climate Listening Project and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

The video project is funded by the National Audubon Society, Forsyth Audubon and Audubon North Carolina. The Climate Listening Project is a visual and social storytelling project connecting conversations about climate change and community. Click here for a full list of credits.