Digital Distribution Maps of Birds of the Western Hemisphere

Habitat for birds and other animals is disappearing quickly from the Earth's surface. Conservationists are in a race against time to protect remaining habitat to stem the loss of biodiversity. Critical to these conservation efforts is focusing on-the-ground actions on the places where threatened species are found. To aid conservationists in determining where these species occur, NatureServe formed part of a consortium of conservation organizations that joined forces to develop a digital library of the distributions of the birds and mammals of the Western Hemisphere. The goal of the project was to make these maps easily accessible to conservation planners and other interested users.

The data presented here represents an updated version of major product of this collaboration—a digital map library of the distributions of the birds of the Western Hemisphere, now covering 4,273 species. The maps are annotated to indicate sources, migratory status, historic versus current ranges, origin (native or introduced) and taxonomic decisions. The migratory status indications are particularly detailed, distinguishing where birds are permanent residents, breeding residents, non-breeding residents, or passage migrants.

These maps are presented as a free resource for conservationists, researchers, and the general public. To view the map for each species, visit our InfoNatura website, search for the species you are interested in, and click on "Range Map." To download the map files in ArcView format, see below. The map files can be viewed using ESRI ArcExplorer software, which can be downloaded for free from ESRI's website. Please contact ESRI, not NatureServe, for any support needs related to the software.