The climate change predicted by many scientists to accelerate rapidly is likely to have many species leaving home in search of cooler, more hospitable climes.

“For the majority of the birds, especially in the East, it’s going to be a northward shift,” said Tom Auer, important bird area biologist for the National Audubon Society and one of the authors of the society’s just-completed study on the effects of climate change.

In the case of North Carolina’s birds, the move could be westward. The Appalachians beckon with their 4,000-foot range in elevation, and that, Auer said, “is going to allow species at lower elevations to move uphill as climate change progresses.”

The North Carolina mountains already make up the southernmost range for a number of birds, according to Curtis Smalling, land bird conservation director for Audubon NC. They include several species of warbler, least and alder flycatchers, and the ruffed grouse.

Some of North Carolina’s most familiar birds are among the 314 the report ( http://climate.audubon.org) considers at risk of losing more than half their current range across the country by 2080. They include mallards, house finches, ospreys, wild turkeys and – on the coast – black skimmers and American oystercatchers.

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