The first study showed that from 2014 to 2016, over a million common murres from Alaska through California—about 15% of the population—died as result of a marine heat wave known as the 'Warm Blob.' The Warm Blob wreaked havoc on California's normally cold, highly productive waters, causing fish like anchovies, sardine, sand lance, squids, and krill to move to deeper, colder waters and be less available in other ways. In turn, the marine life—from the blue whale to salmon to pelagic birds like the common murre—that feed on them suffered, competing with each other for what little food was left to be found. The result was a massive die-off of common murres.
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