2026
Puffins look adorable, but they are also sensitive indicators of ocean heath. When something shifts in the ocean—temperature, fish stocks, timing— puffins feel it fast. And right now, the signals…
read moreThe Guardian (March 4, 2026): Tens of thousands of seabirds- mainly Puffins- have been washing up on beaches throughout Europe in recent weeks. It is the biggest die-off of seabirds in a decade. The birds died of starvation during a series of winter storms.
Julie Wallace, Keenan Yakola, Stephen W. Kress, & Donald E. Lyons
2024
Atlantic puffins thrive in cool environments in the North Atlantic. They prefer to eat small, fatty forage fish that they— and especially their small growing…
Long-term Multi-Species Demographic Studies Reveal Divergent Negative Impacts of Winter Storms on Seabird SurvivalKirsty Laurenson, Matt J. Wood, Tim R. Birkhead, Matthew D. K. Priestley, Richard B. Sherley, Annette L. Fayet, Tim Guilford, Ben J. Hatchwell, and Stephen C. Votier
2024
Adored for their “high cuteness factor,” Puffins are also remarkably tough sea creatures and thrive in some of the harshest marine environments on Earth. These…
Catastrophic and persistent loss of common murres after a marine heatwaveHeather M. Renner, John F. Piatt, Martin Renner, Brie A. Drummond, Jared S. Laufenberg, Julia K. Parrish
2024
This article reports on a catastrophic decline of Alaska’s Common Murre population following a powerful marine heatwave in the NE Pacific Ocean during 2014-2016. Some…
