Just about every morning, I walk my dogs past Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta. By far the most numerous birds I encounter are vultures, both turkey and black. It is not unusual for me to see more than 100 vultures warming themselves in the morning sun on their favorite trees. I appreciate these neighbors of mine, and am grateful for the important work they do cleaning up wildlife fatalities. Turkey vultures, the adults of which have featherless red heads, are more numerous by far. They have been residents of this region for as long as bird record-keeping has existed. Black vultures, with featherless black heads, are relative newcomers. That species is most abundant in Central and South America, but they historically have been denizens of southern states, from eastern Texas through Florida.

Since 1990 or so, however, black vultures have been undergoing a northward range expansion. I’ve witnessed this. Thirty years ago, black vultures were a rare and exciting find anywhere in the Midwest. Each year, they inched northward. I’ve been birding the vicinity of Marietta’s Oak Grove Cemetery for more than a decade, and I’ve seen the number of black vultures increase each year, from an occasional few to a reliable dozen or more. In 2002, they were found to be nesting in Connecticut for the first time; by 2020, they began nesting in Vermont. Black vultures weren’t found on the Parkersburg Christmas Bird Count until 2017, when two were reported, but since 2020, they’ve been found every year. Last year Parkersburg CBC birders found 35. I counted 40 in Oak Grove Cemetery a few weeks ago, and 20 on Nov. 13, just after the wintry spell.

Birds are incredibly adaptable. It is normal for birds to change their breeding and wintering locales as population numbers expand and contract, habitat changes (both favorably and unfavorably), disease spreads, etc. In recent decades, however, range expansion for many bird species has trended northward. Researchers say climate change is a factor, and not just for black vultures. Carolina chickadees–the species resident in the Mid-Ohio Valley–are expanding their range northward, too, at a rate of 0.7 miles per year, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Black-bellied whistling ducks are year-round residents of the coastal Southeast and in the summer, historically found only as far north as the Lower Mississippi Valley. They were a rarity in Ohio, but since 2020 have been reported with increasing frequency here. Four were spotted in Wood County, West Virginia, in June 2024, a first for the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Why are historically southern bird species moving north? Because warmer temperatures mean that regions farther north are now suitable habitat. In the case of black vultures recently showing up on the Parkersburg Christmas Bird Count, later winters encourage them to stay close to their breeding range, delaying their winter vacation.

Similarly, ruby-throated hummingbirds historically winter in southern Mexico and Central America, with a few holdovers in southern and central Florida. But for the past two decades, ruby-throats have overwintered in Georgia, the Carolinas, and even Virginia. Even more startling, Anna’s hummingbird, which historically was a year-round resident of Southern California and northwestern Mexico, now nests and overwinters in southern Alaska!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used Christmas Bird Count data to study winter distribution changes of 305 widespread North American bird species, and found that the average mid-December to early January center of abundance moved northward by more than 40 miles between 1966 and 2013. Of the 305 species studied, 48 moved northward by more than 200 miles.

Such bird-nerdy information is exciting to serious birders like me, but it’s not good news. Warmer, earlier springs — which most of us hope for — pose problems for insect-dependent birds that winter in Central and South America but breed in North America, such as warblers and vireos. In response to early warm weather, trees leaf out earlier, so insects emerge earlier, but many northbound species time their journey based on increasing day length. They have no way of knowing that the insect emergence that fuels their journeys has peaked earlier than it has historically. Still, since 1990, migratory bird species have been arriving in North America each spring about two days earlier per decade, researchers have determined.

According to bird guru Kenn Kaufman, “Climate change is already underway, and speeding up. It will shake up bird distributions in major ways. … [C]onservationists will have to pay even more attention to all birds across all landscapes, to be alert to what we can do to help species survive.”

It’s an exciting time to be a birder. Unfortunately, excitement is not always a good thing. By the way, Mountwood Bird Club’s Christmas Bird Count, in and around Parkersburg, will be on Dec. 20. To participate, contact Jason White at whitej4427@yahoo.com.

Dawn Hewitt, of Marietta, is managing editor for BWD Magazine, and a co-author of Bird Watching for Dummies, second edition.