A Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds – which maps potential changes in distribution of all of the continent’s regularly occurring nesting birds – shows that we need urgent action to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, and redouble our efforts for nature conservation, if we are to avoid calamitous impacts on birds. The atlas shows that for the average bird species the potential distribution by the end of this century will shift nearly 550 km northeast, equivalent to the distance from Plymouth to Newcastle. The average bird’s distribution will also be reduced in size by a fifth and overlap the current range by only 40%. Alarmingly, the atlas shows that three-quarters of all of Europe’s nesting bird species are likely to suffer declines in range.