On March 14th Jeremy and JP were able to get out to Nonsuch and meet the newly hatched CahowCam2 chick, watch the video here.
Hatching Highlights from the 2026 CahowCam2 Chick
Here are video Highlights of the hatching and first 18 hours of the new CahowCam2 chick’s life…
The CahowCam2 chick has hatched!
First revealed by Sampson @3:17am on March 13th, one of the rarest chicks in the World hatched today, witnessed by our online LiveStream followers who had been waiting patiently for the past 5 days since the first “pip” was revealed on March 8th…
Video replay coming soon… Watch The LiveStream here:
CahowCam2 Hatching Day 4
Egg crack revealed on March 12th
CahowCam2 Hatching Day 1
CahowCam2 Hatching countdown and chick count update.
UPDATE> March 12th | 10am still no reveal, however Sampson is increasingly agitated and keeps refreshing the nest and checking under his belly, all indications that hatching is underway…
UPDATE> March 8th | When checked today the egg had already started pipping, earlier than expected! So if all goes well it is expected to hatch in the next 24-72 hours…
The countdown is in for the LiveStream hatching of the CahowCam2 chick, which is now projected to hatch by March 10th, so please keep watching the LiveStream page or the realtime video mirrored below. The CahowCam1 pair’s egg unfortunately failed this year, but the cameras have revealed the potential causes and associated behaviours…
As a repeat of last season’s “Who’s the Daddy” drama, its mother once again arrived earlier than Sampson for their fall courting and nest building period and engaged with another male for a few days of “ex-pair mating” before he was violently evicted upon Sampson’s return. The potential chick’s paternity is therefore in question which will be addressed through a paternity test as part of the genomic population study being conducted by BioQuest, which is revealing insights into the hidden behaviors of this traditionally thought to be monogamous species…
The above egg was one of the last to be laid this season with the majority throughout the colonies already having hatched or being well underway. As of last count both the Nonsuch and Horn Rock colonies each had at least 17 confirmed chicks with at least 5 more accessible eggs being still viable with many having started pipping, as seen in the video below.
Meet the first 2026 Nonsuch Cahow Chicks!
JP and I have been able to get out to Nonsuch Island twice in the last 10 days, this is an important time in the breeding cycle of Bermuda's endangered national bird, the Cahow. It is important as this is when the eggs are hatching, so that you finally find out what the chick numbers will be this year.
Jeremy, JP & Mark Blaxter
We first went on February 25th with a special guest Mark Blaxter head of the Tree of Life Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, who was in Bermuda for the Bermuda Principles Genomics Conference which JP is also part of wearing his BioQuest hat.
We then went back out on the morning of Saturday, 28th Feb. in unusual, foggy conditions that completely hid the islands at times, to meet a larger group also led by JP from the same genomics conference. Following the tour, I was able to carry out a check of all the nest burrows at the "A" nesting colony.
The results were as follows (A colony only):
8 Cahow chicks already hatched, ranging 1 day to 15 days age.
5 Eggs where hatching was underway (an up to 3-day long process).
5 Fertile eggs where embryos are still developing
I will be carrying out further checks this week (weather as always permitting) to the rest of the nests and the "B" colony and will update as I get around to the other nesting islands.
Keep watching the LiveSteams as the egg in CahowCam2 is on track to hatch around March 14th as it was one of the last to be laid this year, and is subject once again to “Who’s the Daddy” concerns…
We have the first Cahow chicks of 2026!
1st Cahow Chick of 2026 Season > burrow C30 on Horn Rock Feb18th | Fertile egg > burrow R824 on Nonsuch Island Photos: Jeremy Madeiros
Feb 18th 2026 on Horn Rock > 1st Cahow chick of season revealed!
“I have been trying to squeeze in checks of the Cahow nesting islands when weather conditions and other work responsibilities allow. On the 15th Feb. I spent much of Sunday afternoon checking nest burrows on Horn Rock, seeing the first pips in eggshells in at least 3 nests as the hatching process began. On 18th Feb., I was able to land again on Horn Rock and confirm the first chick of 2026, being brooded by the male bird (band no. E0265) in the C30 nest and only about 24 hours old (see photo). I was also able to check the few remaining nests I had not been able to look at on the previous check, and it looks like there are at least 29 nests with fertile, hatched or hatching eggs on this islet.
Meanwhile, on Nonsuch Island, I believe that there are at least 3 chicks that have already hatched, although I have not been able to make a detailed check there in over a week. On my last check, there were 25-27 nests with fertile eggs, giving us a real chance of equaling or exceeding the record number of 25 fledged chicks from 2024. This included the R824 nest, with its fertile egg being incubated by the male C0896 Cahow (pictured).
Note: it was great to have sunny conditions for the Horn Rock check on the 18th Feb, when I was not only able to see my first 4 Longtails (White-tailed Tropicbirds) of 2026, but was also treated to 3 Snow Buntings, blown in by the recent winter storms - a crazy mix of tundra and tropical species!”
Jeremy Madeiros | Chief Terrestrial Conservation Officer Department of the Environment and Natural Resources
“We have a backlog of videos being edited from prior visits, so stay tuned for the fist check of Nonsuch Colony “B” and updates from CahowCam2 and the ongoing “Who’s the Daddy” saga…”
J-P Rouja | Nonsuch Expeditions Founder
CahowCam egg updates: Cam1 has failed, whilst Cam2 is fertile
“Extremely windy, stormy weather conditions since the beginning of 2026 have made it difficult to safely make the trip from Flatts Inlet to the nesting islands of the Bermuda petrel (Cahow) in the Castle Harbour Islands Nature Reserve, which has reduced the number of visits to Nonsuch, and the outer nesting islands.
After having last visited on January the 23rd, during which I attempted to repair a “dimple dent” in the CahowCam1 egg, I was finally able to able get back out to Nonsuch with J.P. Rouja on the 4th of February, during a 4 to 5-hour gap in the dominant gale to storm-force winds, to carry out a complete check of nests, Cahows and eggs being incubated at the Nonsuch “B” nesting colony, which will be the subject of another post and video.
After this, before heading back and under the threat of an incoming gale, we were able to quickly check the two CahowCam nests at the Nonsuch “A” colony. There we were able to confirm that the egg in the CahowCam 1 (R831) nest has failed likely after being further damaged in a fight between the resident incubating female bird (band no. E0212) and a suspected invading Cahow, most likely a young prospecting male bird looking for a new nest and trying to evict the resident bird and take over the nest. This egg has now disappeared from the nest chamber and has probably been knocked into the entrance tunnel.
The news is much better in the CahowCam 2 (R832) nest, where on my previous monitoring visit on Jan 23 the resident male bird, “Sampson” (band no. E0174) was incubating a newly laid egg, only laid about 2 to 3 days before. On Feb 4, the female Cahow from this nest (band no. E0643) had returned and taken over incubation of the 57-gram egg, which when candled proved to be fertile, with a well-developed embryo inside.
Jeremy after confirming that the CahowCam2 egg is fertile.
Although the CahowCam 1 pair will continue to make occasional visits to their nest, they are essentially finished for this season and will have to wait until the next (2026-2027) nesting season to have their next chance of producing a chick. Meanwhile, we will continue to keep our fingers crossed and monitor the CahowCam2 nest, and hopefully this pair will come through again and produce a downy chick sometime around the 10th of March! So please sign up for the Newsletter alerts and watch the LiveStream.”
Jeremy Madeiros Principle Scientist – Terrestrial Conservation, Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources
Jeremy attempts rescue of the CahowCam1 egg.
On January 23rd Jeremy and JP were finally able to get out to Nonsuch and get a second look a the CahowCam2 egg; the Good News is that it is viable, the Bad News is that we have identified a problem…
This particular pair successfully fledge a chick every other year giving a 50% success rate, which is the average for the species, with failures and losses occurring for a number of reasons… However in their case the CahowCam1 LiveStream through which they have been observed for the past 14 seasons has shown that they regularly fight over who gets to take on the incubation, at times quite aggressively, and in doing so sometimes accidentally damage the egg shell, and which may also contribute to the failure of the embryo even when there is no obvious damage to the shell.
Egg shell damage was the cause last year when the egg in this same nest failed due to a “dimple” dent that Jeremy tried to rescue using a coat of clear nail-poilsh (a trick learned from captive breeding programs) which works 50% of the time for Cahows. This year we once again have a dimple which Jeremy can be seen treating in the attached video, however as this one is smaller, and was treated early, there is still hope that they will be successful this year.
Jeremey, JP and the online followers were already concerned this season after a several hour very aggressive battle occured on January 9th when an unknown male fought with the resident female for control of the egg before giving up and flying away before sunrise. We are on the fence as to whether or not this was the resident male, however the following night he did return and the pair resumed their traditional passive-aggressive incubation arguments with her remaining with him for the following 5 nights before finally departing for her well deserved recharging period back out at sea. Cahow females generally leave within hours of their mates return as they urgently need to recover from egg-laying, however as she is the largest female in the colony she may carry enough fat reserves to allow her to hang around longer…
As of this writing she was still out at sea so keep watching the CahowCam LiveStreams for her return, after which the pair will generally alternate week-long incubation shifts until, if still viable, the egg hatches towards the end of February.
Sampson is incubating the egg in CahowCam2
On January 23rd when Jeremy and JP were finally able to make a much needed visit to Nonsuch, the Cahow that had been seen in the CahowCam2 burrow was identified as Sampson, and was incubating an egg!
Once again this season, should it hatch, the resulting chick’s paternity will be in question, so stay tuned for the next chapter in the “Who’s the Daddy” saga, and results from the paternity test and Cahow Genomic Population Study, being conducted in collaboration with the local BioQuest team.
Watch the video above, and the ongoing Live Stream here.
CahowCam2 Update - egg has arrived - after Jeremy relocated prospector
UPDATE: Jan 19th @ 8:20pm > Bird in nest, but still no egg…
UPDATE: Jan 23rd > Sampson is back and incubating an egg!
Whilst the majority of the pairs in the Nonsuch and outer colonies have now returned and are each incubating their single eggs, Jeremy, JP and the online followers anxiously await the return and egg-laying in the CahowCam2 burrow. The resident pair are usually one of the last pairs to return, and were expected around the 15th, and yet again the paternity of their potential egg is in question, extending the now very well documented “Who’s the Daddy” saga.
On the evening of the 15th around 7:30 pm a Cahow arrived on the front edge of a 50 knot winter squall. If it was in fact the resident female, her egg would be expected within the hour, however the storm almost immediately took the internet connection and cameras offline leaving everyone in suspense.
Jeremy and JP therefore made another weekend trip out to Nonsuch to see who was in the burrow, and if there was an egg yet, and found a new prospecting male Cahow, instead of the resident pair.
So as to avoid another fight when Sampson returned, after a health check as seen in the video below, Jeremy returned the young male to an empty burrow further up the hill, with the hope that it would in turn settle in that one and avoid a conflict with Sampson, which he was most likely to lose…
Re the internet access, back on the mainland, 3rd party contractors had loosened the tower-mounted private microwave dish through which the LiveStream cameras reach the internet, and the subsequent winds had blown it off, damaging it in the process. As of this post on the 18th it was still not repaired despite intensive efforts over the weekend by JP with support from the BAA and LiveNet (*NB: There was not an issue with our Digicel internet access).
We hope to be live again ASAP so that we can monitor CahowCam2 in particular.
CahowCam1 Egg Laying & Domestic Disputes
Over two thirds of the Cahow pairs have returned and laid their eggs, including the record-breaking CahowCam1 pair which continues to challenge the norms…
At the start of this current nesting season, the male’s return on October 14th followed by her joining him on the 21st, (marking the official start of the nesting season), were the earliest individual-bird, and pair returns for nest building and mating logged by Jeremy in the history of the program. It historically used to start in November but over the past few years some of the pairs have been returning progressively earlier and earlier in October.
This pair have been nesting together in burrow #831 where the Nonsuch Expeditions custom built CahowCam1 is located since 2010, successfully raising and fledging a chick every other year, which is the average for the species, however similarities end there.
She is one of the largest females in the colonies, (and thus for the entire species), and one of the few matching or exceeding the weight of her mate. Just last week, as seen in the video below, she weighed in at 384 grams, (right after laying her oversized 61 gram egg), far exceeding the average female weight of 310-330 grams.
This difference may in turn be affecting their nesting behaviour. For most pairs, as documented by Jeremy over the past 20+ years, upon laying their single egg, that can be up to 1/5th of her body mass, the female will leave back out to sea as soon as her mate arrives to takeover incubation. This usually happens within hours, when they are properly synchronized, partly out of necessity as the female urgently needs to rebuild her fat reserves and strength, with the male generally taking on the first +/- 2 week incubation shift.
In the CahowCam1 burrow however, as revealed by the LiveStream once again this year, she usually does not leave right away and is reluctant to hand over incubation duties often staying on for the first week (as of this post on the 15th she is still there after 5 days, check the LiveStream here for a real-time view).
In their case, her refusal to relinquish inccubatioin duties results in arguments ranging from gentle nudging, to passive aggressive shoving, to full-on fights, which in some seasons have even contributed to the accidental failure of the egg.
This current season, the night before he was officially seen arriving, a mystery male arrived and spent 6 hours at times violently battling her to take over the egg, before giving up and departing. This was VERY distressing to watch for the Team and online followers as it seemed to be a nest invasion, and we feared for her safety, however, Jeremy now believes that it might in fact have been him, and she just wasn’t ready for his return, let alone for him to takeover incubation, and she pushed-back and resisted in ways that would have been impossible or even fatal for a smaller female…
Also, as seen in the video, and via the LiveStreams, there is a land-crab living in the burrow in the space behind the main chamber and camera (which is buried underground to give the side view of the chamber).
It has regularly been documented on camera when the Cahows are out at sea, stealing nest materials, likely to eat, pulling them into the back of the burrow where its own tunnels have been excavated.
During this last nest check J-P and Jeremy had intended to catch and safely relocate it away from the Colony, however as its’ own tunnels were too deep to reach it, it was decided for now to create a separate entrance to the crab tunnels that bypass the main Cahow burrow, with the aim to circumvent any potential conflicts…
Our viewers are asked to send us a note or DM should they see it in the burrow during the LiveStream.
CahowCam1 pair re-unite, after severe battle with mystery cahow the night before.
January 10th @7pm: the resident male returned to CahowCam1 and greeted his mate, then somewhat gently, started jostling and arguing as to who gets to incubate their egg.
Mystery Cahow attack on Jan 9th
This is in sharp contrast to the interactions the night before between the resident female and a mystery Cahow (we are still not sure if it was this mate or an invader), which can be best described as an all-out 6 hour battle that was most distressing to watch for the team and online followers…
In past years, this particular pair have been known to literally fight over who gets to incubate the egg, to the point that they sometimes damage it, contributing to their 50% failure rate, but last night’s fight was most extreme and literally went on for hours, to the point that we were worried about the birds, and the egg.
It is possible (and Jeremy believes) that it was this mate, and that she REALLY did not want him to take over, and he just wouldn’t give up, but watching their more traditional low-key arguing tonight (at least as of 9pm), which is what we have come to expect over the past 14 years watching them, there is such a contrast in behaviors, that last night’s visitor might have been another invading male…
Watch the LiveStream in real-time below now:
Happy New Year from Nonsuch! Keep watching Cam1 -She has returned and laid her egg!
UPDATE: Jan 5th She returned @21:54 and @23:16 she laid her egg!!!
Original post and ongoing LiveStream below:
The Cam1 pair marked the earliest mating / nest building return on record this past fall, and are now expected to return for the egg laying period that starts in early January.
Keep watching the LiveStream through the official page found here, or the video mirrored below, and if still empty, keep checking back during nighttime hours, as she will generally lay her single egg within an hour of returning.
The CahowCam 2 pair continue to be amongst the latest to return, and are expected back around mid January whilst their “Who’s the Daddy” saga continues…
Be sure to sign up for Newsletter for CahowCam alerts when it is happening.
Totoro has returned - wearing a GLS tracker which will finally reveal Cahow chick “lost years”…
The CahowCam 1&2 nesting pairs and their offspring, are arguably the rarest, most-studied, non-captive seabirds on the planet!
CahowCam1 male 57,000 mile tracks April 2009-June 2010
Along with the 24/7 CahowCam LiveStreams that over the past 14 years have revealed their intimate and at times surprising nesting behaviours, which in turn triggered recent genomic paternity tests, our Bermuda Petrel Biomonitoring Project collaboration is revealing where first the adults and now the chicks spend their time on the high seas. Read about Jeremy’s recent recovery of a chick from CahowCam2, followed by 15 month 57,000 miles of tracks from the CahowCam1 male when we was tagged back in 2009/2010.
Jeremy Madeiros: “November and early December were busy during the courtship and nest-building period of our endemic and critically endangered Cahow, or Bermuda petrel. Due to the small population size and very limited breeding area of the Cahow, it has been possible to follow individual birds that I fitted with i.d. bands as long ago as 2002, permitting us to follow the lives of individuals in some cases for 23+ years.
The most exciting of these are what I call "known-age birds", that is, Cahows banded as chicks in nests, so that we know their parents, nesting island and nest number that they originated from, including the dates that they fledged. You can then follow these birds for the rest of their breeding lifespan.
Totoro with GLS tag after 3 years at sea
One group of fledglings in particular that I have been looking out for are those that fledged during the 2021-2022 breeding season. That is because I fitted 37 fledglings that year with GLS tags provided by research partner Letizia Campioni, that were capable of recording & archiving daily position fixes for periods of more than 2 years. This should solve the mystery of whether the fledglings go to the same oceanic areas that the adult birds do, during the period where the young Cahows spend the first 3 to 5 years of their lives before they return to look for nest sites and mates,
On Nov. 27th, 2025, I was able to confirm the 1st-return of a chick from this 2022 chick cohort, when I captured a young prospecting male Cahow in the Nonsuch R825 nest. After checking it's band/ring number (E0843), it turned out to be "TOTORO", the 2022 chick from the CahowCam2 nest (nest no. R832), which was fitted with a GLS tag no. CE326 in June 2022. As it turned out, J.P. Rouja filmed & photographed me fitting the tag to the chick, which can be seen below. Also included are a photo of the now-adult "Totoro", and another of me detaching the tag, which will be given to Letizia to extract possibly 2 years of locational data, which can hopefully fill in the gap in knowledge of where young Cahows go during the "lost years" period before they mature and return to the breeding islands to prospect for nest burrows and mates.
Hopefully, we will find additional tagged Cahows from this group later this season and through the next couple of years. It is always a thrill to find out which of my adopted "feathered foster children" have survived their lost years and returned to start their own legacy. All the best!”
“Who’s the Daddy?” the Sequel - a Maury / Jerry Springer REMIX
Sampson gripping his rival by the neck
Tonight on the Nonsuch Show: “Who’s the Daddy?”
The Nonsuch burrow is back - and this time the humans are in the hot seat too, with J-P Rouja, Jeremy Madeiros, and Dr. Carika Weldon dragged right into the middle of the feathered drama, and Island Style Scandal…
Previously on Who’s the Daddy?
Last season, J-P had the CahowCams rolling when our young leading lady Cahow, newly matched with recently widowed burrow boss Sampson, was caught on the 24/7 LiveStream getting friendly with another male while Sampson was still out at sea. Jeremy, Bermuda’s Cahow whisperer, watched when as he had predicted Sampson came barreling back into CahowCam2, launched a furious flurry of wings, and evicted the interloper, leaving the audience and researchers asking: “Will Sampson really be the daddy of their chick?”
That chick, a survivor of a brutal tropic bird attack, had its blood carefully collected by the Ettrick vets and sent by the Nonsuch team to BioQuest, where Carika and her genomics crew lined up the ultimate test: no speculation, just DNA receipts.
Sampson with his mate.
The Sequel > Hurricane Melissa: Love, Lies, and Burrow Fights
Fast forward to this season and cut to the approach of Hurricane Melissa. While J-P is checking storm tracks and livestream feeds, a new twist hits the script: a second male slips into CahowCam2 and snuggles up with the same female the night before the storm. Jeremy and J-P watch live as the wind howls outside and things heat up underground - once again, no Sampson in sight, and every viewer knows this is not going to end peacefully.
5 days later on the night of November 4th, Sampson blasts back into the burrow, and the cameras capture a 30-minute, all-out brawl that has Jeremy genuinely worried he’s watching a fatal fight, Sampson’s had enough, and this time its not a simple eviction. Eventually the badly beaten male crawls out, catches his breath, and flies off into the dark, fate unknown, leaving Sampson and his mate alone - along with a huge question mark over any future chick’s paternity.
Jeremy, J-P, and Carika: Ringmasters of the Chaos
From his screens, J-P plays the role of live show producer, juggling camera angles and timestamps while the audience blows up the chat with theories, nicknames, and accusations - some even suggesting the new female be dubbed “Jezebel.” Jeremy brings decades of Cahow experience to the commentary, pointing out that Sampson’s first mate, Suzie, used to arrive within hours of him for 14 straight years, which meant no intruders, no fights, and an 85% breeding success rate.
Carika enters as the science anchor, turning all this chaos into hard data through a species-wide genomic population study with BioQuest and Nonsuch Expeditions. While everyone else asks, “Who’s cheating on whom?” she’s asking the deeper questions: how often does this happen across the colony, how faithful are Cahows really, and what does that mean for a species that nearly went extinct?
DNA Reveal: The Big Episode
In January, J-P, Jeremy, and Carika will once again take this saga from the burrow to the stage in a special DENR-Nonsuch Expeditions–BioQuest talk at the BUEI where the DNA test results from the earlier “Who’s the Daddy?” chick will be revealed. Expect Maury / Jerry-Springer-level suspense with real-world stakes as they:
- Reveal whether Sampson is truly the father—or whether a mystery male has been quietly passing on his genes.
- Show how the 24/7 CahowCams and genomics together are exposing secret trysts that would otherwise stay hidden in the dark.
- Explain what this means for dominant males like Sampson if they can’t sync with their mates and risk losing their genetic legacy in a critically endangered species.
If you’ve followed the Who’s the Daddy posts on NonsuchIsland.com, this event is the finale you can’t skip. Come watch J-P cue the clips, Jeremy break down the burrow behavior, and Carika drop the genomic truth bombs that will reshape what we think we know about Cahow “monogamy” and the future of Bermuda’s rarest seabirds. Stay tuned for a live presentation in March.
Next up on the Nonsuch Show:
Alright, let’s talk about your momma’s Bermuda cedar - because the real question isn’t how tall it is, it’s whose pollen has been sneaking into those cones. Is that tree carrying the proud legacy of the hometown hero, the native Bermuda cedar Juniperus bermudiana, or did some smooth‑talking out‑of‑towner, Juniperus virginiana, blow in on the wind and “contribute” to the family line? Both species are wind‑pollinated - so if a lonely female Bermuda cedar is standing next to a male Virginia cedar, that pollen match‑up is not just possible, it’s scientifically likely. Researchers have documented real hybrids and Virginia genes have been creeping into the Bermuda cedar gene pool for decades diluting the original island lineage, to the point that most new trees are likely hybrids. So until the BioQuest lab runs its DNA, the verdict on your momma’s cedar stays classic Jerry style: “Bermuda cedar… you MIGHT be the daddy.”
Did you miss the event? You can support the ongoing collaborations with BioQuest here.
*AI Notice: The facts and the story are JP’s and legit, but we used AI to help tweak the script.
*Nonsuch Expeditions recently lost Cornell funding so please consider supporting our ongoing efforts via this link.
Cahows killings by raptor triggers urgent Green Island visit to identify culprit and assess hurricane damage.
On November 19, 2025 Jeremy and I were taking a group of visiting birders on a tour of Nonsuch and visited the southwest point. Upon reaching the clearing, we came across a horrifying site, first one, then two, then three, and finally four carcasses of what clearly were Cahows, now just their wings, attached only by a portion of their rib cage, completely stripped bare of all flesh, their bodies, heads, legs (and identifying leg bands) completely gone.
The immediate consensus from Jeremy and the experts among the group was that this was the work of a bird of prey such as an Owl or raptor such as a Falcon, but which one was it, and was this just the tip of the iceberg? It is known that a Peregrine Falcon was spotted during early to mid-November by Jeremy and private boaters over the Airport and Castle Harbour Islands area and was even seen roosting on the cliff edge on Nonsuch very close to where the Cahow carcasses were found, making this the primary suspect.
However, back in 1987 Jeremy’s predecessor Dr. David Wingate was faced with a similar tragedy, when a Snowy Owl blown in by a storm proceeded to take up residence nearby and developed a taste for Cahows, killing at least 5 (representing 5% of the species at the time), mainly on one of the original nesting islets, Green Island (they were not re-introduced to Nonsuch Island by Jeremy until 2004).
It was eventually shot by Dr. Wingate as a last resort, after multiple efforts to capture or tranquilize the Owl were unsuccessful. To this day this action is still controversial in the birding world and just recently someone somewhat prophetically asked me if Jeremy had yet faced his own “Snowy Owl moment”. At the time the entire Cahow population on the planet consisted of only a few dozen pairs and would have returned to its previously assumed extinction, should the Owl have been permitted to continue with its Cahow diet.
Cahows, are nocturnal, and will only approach land after sunset, conducting all of their aerial courtship, and activities outside of their underground burrows after dark. This behavior likely evolved as a way to avoid daytime-hunting eagles, hawks and falcons. However as was documented by at least two similar kills 15 years ago, also on Nonsuch, Peregrine Falcons have also been known to hunt them under the light of a full moon and are well-documented as being able to hunt the related and similar-sized Manx Shearwater, during full moon periods on islands off the coast of Wales.
There had been a Super Full Moon earlier in the month and the state of the carcasses was such that these kills could have happened around that time, and a Peregrine Falcon had been seen roosting on Nonsuch around the time as well... Historically when they are blown in to Bermuda they will stay for a week or two until they build up their energy and fat reserves, and then resume their migration heading south to the Caribbean and South America, which would in these circumstances be the best case scenario, as this might limit the killings to the few we had found already, but what if it was another Owl?
The visiting birding group, led by Bob Flood have been coming to Bermuda since 2012, in November, when they charter a vessel to take them several miles offshore in the late afternoon to photograph Cahows in flight. The cahows are returning for courtship and congregate there, staying out of reach of land based raptors until after sunset when they make a beeline to Nonsuch and the surrounding colonies under cover of darkness.
The following night this same group along with Jeremy and Peter Drew, his assistant, were positioned just off of Nonsuch to document the Cahows near-shore dusk approach, when a Short-eared Owl was witnessed flying from Nonsuch over to Green Island where it appeared to be hunting, instantly making it a suspect as well. Short-eared Owls are on the smaller side, and likely couldn’t catch a Cahow in flight, though could conceivably attack a younger prospecting one, exposed on the ground at night.
During the prior Owl hunting episode, Cahow carcasses were found on the crest of Green Island so we determined that checking there, especially for more recent kills during moonless nights, would indicate that our perpetrator might be an Owl, and that we had an ongoing bigger problem...
This increased the urgency for us landing on Green, which has remained logistically inaccessible to us since before the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which itself had had the potential to catastrophically impact the nesting burrows there. As outlined in prior posts, due to its late in the year passage when the burrows were already occupied by Cahow pairs, we were still not sure as to the height of the storm-surge when it made its closest approach around midnight, as if it had fully submerged the island as had happened in prior hurricanes, it would likely have resulted in Cahow drownings...
On Nov 21st, Jeremy and I were finally able to land there, after being dropped off by Peter and in the first instance were able to confirm that most fortunately there had been little to no hurricane damage, with only one burrow lid having been knocked off. We quickly made our way to the top of the island and after examining all of the clearings, mirrored by Peter also checking the nearby clearings on Nonsuch, are very happy to say that no further, carcasses, feathers or signs of Cahow kills were found.
Taking all of the above into account Jeremy believes that it is likely that the perpetrator was in fact the Peregrine Falcon, which seems to have since left the island after feasting on the four Cahows that we found on Nonsuch, so hopefully that is the end of this matter, at least for this season. The DENR, the Nonsuch Expeditions and project partner BioQuest will now attempt to extract DNA from the carcasses, which once compared to birds from their ongoing Cahow Genomic Population Study, should be able to determine if the victims were young prospecting Cahows or older ones, perhaps part of established pairs which would be far more disruptive to the ongoing recovery program.
Either way, Jeremy says that we should be on the lookout, as whilst the recovery program successfully increases the size of the Colonies, it will likely also attract more threats such as this.
For a bit more good news from Green Island: Jeremy was able to conduct a detailed nest check and the one burrow the lid from which had been knocked off during the hurricane, was left with an open roof until he replaced it, so its resident pair was not able to occupy it.
However when checking a nearby nest he did find the somewhat muddy female from that open nest and was able to return her to her now fixed burrow, and in doing so not only set her nesting season back on track, but avoided a potential fight when her temporary burrows regular occupants returned...
*We recently lost Cornell funding so please consider supporting our ongoing efforts via this link.
Happy Thanksgiving from Nonsuch Island!
J-P Jeremy and the Cahows would like to wish our followers a Happy Thanksgiving - with a check in from Nonsuch Island.
The CahowCam1 pair returned and started their month of fall courtship early on October 21st, and they are now back at sea until January, so here is a replay of them courting, filmed on October 30th whilst Hurricane Melissa passed outside.
They have been together and we have been LiveStreaming from their burrow for the past 15 years, producing a chick roughly every other year (which is the average for the species). They failed last year, but are hopes are high for this coming Spring!
Here is the LiveStream from CahowCam2 (which as of Nov 27th & 28th had the pair in the nest). They started late again this year, and have been subject to much controversy as Sampson the resident male lost his original mate 3 years ago and is not yet synchronized with his new one, giving her the opportunity to mate with other males when she returns a few days before he does…
Their resulting chick(s) are now all the subject of Paternity Tests with our BioQuest partner as part of a broader ground-breaking genomic population study.
Follow the “Whos the Daddy” drama here, and join us for a talk and reveal at the BUEI on December 9th…
*We recently lost Cornell funding so please consider supporting our ongoing efforts via this link.
The “Who’s the Daddy” saga continues with a Hurricane tryst.
Sampson the resident male of CahowCam2 evicting interloping male.
In the hours leading up to the passage of Hurricane Melissa, a second Cahow arrived in the CahowCam2 burrow and joined the female that had arrived 2 nights before, and immediately started courtship activities and mating.
This past nesting season she had hatched and successfully raised her first chick with Sampson, the long-time resident of this burrow who had lost his original mate 3 years ago. However, last year observations enabled by the 24/7 LiveStreaming CahowCams installed in this and a neighboring burrow had documented her mating with another male for a few days prior to Sampsons return, resulting in a fight and prompt eviction of the interloping male.
This past Spring the resulting chick (which survived a tropic bird attack also documented on camera) had its blood drawn (by the vets from Ettrick animal hospital) to be sequenced by project partner BioQuest as part of its ongoing Genomic Population study and in this case a Paternity Test, the results of which will be revealed at a talk on December 9th at the BUEI exploring their collaborative use of genomics for the conservation of Bermuda’s critically endangered species...
Generally, established Cahow pairs are highly synchronized, often returning to their burrows within hours of each other despite having spent the summer months apart at sea. This would usually mitigate the risk of ex-pair mating activity as the resident male will be there to prevent this, and Sampson was highly synchronized with his previous mate, Suzie, which he paired with for 14 years, often arriving within hours of each other. This resulted in no observed fights as Sampson was always already there, and a very high breeding success rate of 85% for that pair. Suzie however failed to return in 2023 and is presumed to have died at sea, cause unknown. It can take a few years, however for a new pair to "synch up", and this breeding season in the CahowCam2 burrow, for the second year in a row, the new female has returned a few days prior to Sampson and engaged with other males. Last year the resulting fight lasted a few minutes and Sampson’s primary goal seemed to be a prompt eviction, with the interloper being seen again a few days later in another nest further into the colony, seemingly un-injured apart from his pride, perhaps.
Jeremy with Inna, last Season’s CamCam2 chick, now the subject of a Paternity test.
This year however, when Sampson returned on the night of 4th Nov., the resulting fight lasted more than 30 minutes, and Jeremy and I, and followers who were also watching online, were concerned that we were witnessing a fatality as Sampson seemed intent on inflicting major pain, if not killing his opponent, and not just evicting him... Ultimately the loser made his way out of the burrow and after catching his breath flew away, but Jeremy remains concerned that he may have had fatal injuries. (See video here, warning is distressing).
Jeremy with Sampson - after the fight exhibiting no injuries
Sampson has now settled back in with his mate, however once again, should she produce a chick its paternity will be in question. For a species that is generally thought to be monogamous throughout their decades long breeding life cycle, how much of this is going on?
The only reason we knew was due to the 24/7 LiveStreams, but how often does this happen throughout the Colony un-observed?
The Nonsuch Expeditions has partnered with local genomics NGO BioQuest to conduct a species-wide genomic population study that will help answer these and other questions, a first in global conservation, especially for a non-captive species that had experienced a near-extinction bottleneck.
This also raises the concern that even for dominant males like Sampson who is one of the largest and strongest in the colony, if he is not synchronized with his mate, he may not be able to pass on his genes…
To learn more please attend the Nonsuch Expeditions / BioQuest talk on December 9th at the BUEI that will reveal the DNA test results along with a discussion of their collaboration to leverage Genomics for the Conservation and Management of Bermuda’s critically endangered species.
*We recently lost Cornell funding so please consider supporting our ongoing efforts via this link.