Warming prompts feds to double bird habitat - The Orange County Register

Federal wildlife officials are proposing to double habitat for a threatened West Coast bird in response to global warming.

The western snowy plover nests in shallow depressions on beaches, some of them in Orange County, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to provide the birds with more territory at higher elevations.

The idea is to protect the bird from expected sea-level rise, which the U.S. Geological Survey estimates at three to four feet over the next century, said Jim Watkins, a Fish and Wildlife biologist who is the recovery coordinator for the plover.
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Watkins said the plover populations are essentially stable, although some breeding areas showed a downturn since 2006, likely because of some colder winters.