Four million common murres died in Alaska during a two-year marine heat wave that started in 2014, according to a new study. Scientists say it was the largest single species die-off in modern history and linked it to human-caused climate change.
The impact hit close to home in Unalaska, where the annual Christmas Bird Count saw a dramatic decline in these seabirds when the catastrophic heat wave began affecting the North Pacific Ocean.
In this episode of “Island Interviews,” naturalist Suzi Golodoff, who has studied Unalaska's birds for nearly 50 years, shares her initial reaction to the common murre population decline and what Unalaska residents can do to help birds adapt to global warming.
