When longtails are sighted again near Bermuda's shores in February and March, locals know it is the beginning of Spring! Bermuda is critical to the life history of these seabirds, which nest in the crevices of our seaside limestone cliffs.
This fantastic footage was captured by Patrick Paley whilst on an Audubon Nonsuch Island tour. It shows an adult longtail stopping in mid air to have a closer look at the cliffs of the Nonsuch Island southwest point.
Longtails spend most of their time on the wing - their legs are set back too far on their bodies to walk on land, and instead bump along on their chests when they are confined to rocky crevices during nesting. Their single egg is generally laid in April and May, and hatches in June and July, however should this first egg fail, they have been known to head to sea for a month to recharge, and then return and try again resulting in late summer chicks.
Longtails are threatened by introduced species and habitat destruction - their cliff-front nesting sites are destroyed by coastal erosion, and dogs, cats, rats and even ants can threaten the vulnerable chicks. 'Longtail igloos', made of styrofoam and concrete, have been installed in many locations on mainland Bermuda and Nonsuch to give the birds more spots to nest.
Aside from being home to the Cahow Recovery Project, Nonsuch Island is also used as a site for the intensive management of longtails, in order to increase their breeding success including 63 igloo nests out of the 210 nests on the island. On our website, you will find a link to the TropicbirdCam, a sister project to our CahowCams, where you can watch the progress of our longtail chicks, from egg laying in March to fledging in September.