At 10:30 AM on July the 6th, just as Jeremy and JP approached the dock, the Tropicbird Cam chick that we have been monitoring for the past few months, launched itself out to sea! Watch video below and visit the LIVEstream page for a season summary.
Zephyr the CahowCam 2 chick has fledged! Watch a replay of departure and last health check.
It's official!
Both Zephyr and Nemo the 2020 CahowCam chicks have fledged.
Watch a replay of her imprinting and exercise activities as she explores the area around the burrow up to and including her departure at 10:32 pm, following her health check earlier that day:
Then continue to watch LIVE as Stormy now has the CahowCam2 burrow to himself...
Last check with Zephyr on World Oceans Day
When Jeremy and JP returned to Nonsuch on World Oceans Day after a weekend of bad weather they found that Zephyr the CahowCam2 chick had not fledged yet and were able to give her perhaps her final health check before she fledges out to sea.
As a positive World Ocean Day news story, this season Jeremy has logged a record number of 134 Cahow breeding pairs and a near record 68 fledged chicks, but more importantly virtually all of the chicks throughout the Colony have been heavier and healthier than usual. This has resulted in, for the first time in 16 years, that Jeremy has not had to rescue or take any of the chicks in for extra or supplemental care.
Apart from when they were nesting on Nonsuch Island the Cahows spend their entire lives over the high seas where they are a true Sentinel of the Ocean. Stay tuned for the results of ongoing and upcoming research with our partners as we use GPS tags to log their travels.
Throughout the 2020 Oceans Week our Team will be highlighting some of the many Ocean Conservation projects that we are involved with, for more details sign up for our Newsletter.
Watch LIVE as "Zephyr" the CahowCam 2 chick prepares to fledge
Viewers should follow this link and alternate between the CahowCam 2 and Surface Cams to track the CahowCam 2 chick as it exercises and prepares to fledge over the next few nights: nonsuchisland.com/live-cahow-cam/#LIVE-CahowCam
It was recently named Zephyr by Lizzy Madeiros, Jeremy’s daughter as seen in the video below.
Nemo the CahowCam 1 chick has fledged!
At 2:03 am on May 25th the recently named “Nemo” Cahow chick from burrow #831 from which CahowCam1 has been live-streaming, fledged.
Jeremy Madeiros | Chief Terrestrial Conservation Officer, The Department of the Environment and Natural Resources: “At 86 days old this is one of the fastest fledging times that I have logged.
This is due in part to the fact that this season Cahow parents throughout the Colony have been finding food closer to Bermuda allowing for shorter foraging flights and more frequent feeding visits.
This in turn has resulted in a record # of chicks exceeding 400 grams in weight and in general healthier chicks throughout the Colony.”
Jean-Pierre Rouja | Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader:
“Whilst scientists and followers from around the World watched the Live-Stream I spent the night remotely controlling the infrared camera that is mounted above ground in translocation colony A to track Nemo’s activities as he explored and exercised around the Colony throughout the night.
He alternated between short naps in the burrow and allot of wing stretching in and out of the burrow followed by extending his wings and going though the motions of flight, all of which we captured in great detail as seen in the video below.
Finally just before 2 am he made his way up the hill behind the Colony and out of sight and was not observed returning to his burrow, leaving us all to wonder if he had in fact fledged off camera or was hiding out in an empty burrow elsewhere in the Colony.
This was answered by a tweet from one of our regular followers containing a time stamp of the 2 second period at 2:03 AM when he flew past the camera which upon review in slow motion was clearly Nemo.
We were also watching, but clearly missed this 2 second blur which proves once again the value crowd sourcing our followers to help monitor the 24/7 cameras for months at a time as we have been doing in conjunction with our partners the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.”
Followers should keep watching the Live Streams over the next few days as the chick from CahowCam 2 will be fledging soon as well...
Watch the LIVE CahowCam streams here and a video of Nemo’s final health check, naming process and a replay of his nocturnal excursions prior to fledging below:
Biodiversity Report: Critically Endangered Lesser Bermuda Land Snail
“Last Friday I celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity by taking a bumpy boat ride to Nonsuch Island to feed some snails. Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but the snails in question are lesser Bermuda land snails (Poecilozonites circumfirmatus). This species has the dubious distinction of have the conservation status ‘Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild)’. We believe it is extinct in the wild, since no live snails have been found in about 16 years, despite lots of searching. The population on Nonsuch Island was introduced in February this year. The snails were bred in England at the Chester Zoo and flown to Bermuda, where they were placed in cages at three spots on Nonsuch Island. Nonsuch offers particularly good habitat for land snails, since it does not have the predators that are found on the mainland. You can read more about the introduction of endangered land snails to Nonsuch Island here.
Above is a photo of two lesser Bermuda land snails from Friday. They are around the size of a green pea.
While I was closing one of the cages, I heard a rustling in the dry bay grape leaves and looked up to see I was being watched by a large Bermuda Skink. It didn’t run off even after I moved to get the camera. Eventually I went back to what I was doing and I heard it wander off.
Never a dull moment on Nonsuch.”
Alison Copeland, M.Sc | Biodiversity Officer | Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Record number of Cahow Breeding Pairs
CahowCam 2 chick
The 2020 Cahow Nesting Season has a record number of 134 breeding pairs which have produced 68 confirmed chicks!
Jeremy Madeiros, Principle Conservation Officer: “After my recent nesting island checks I have the stats at present for this breeding season: 134 breeding pairs with 68 confirmed chicks, hopefully all of which will fledge successfully, (although we almost always loose a chick or two in the final month). This compares to 131 breeding pairs and 73 successfully fledging chicks in the 2018-2019 nesting season.
All chicks are also at very good or above-average weights, with the exception of possibly two which may need to be taken into care, compared with last year, when almost all chicks were at below-average weights and over 12 needed to be taken into care or given supplemental feeding to enable them to fledge.”
Watch the latest Health Check video from April 30th
Jean-Pierre Rouja, Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader: “This Season the Cahows seem to have found a food source closer to Bermuda as their foraging flights are shorter and more frequent, resulting in chicks throughout the Colony growing faster than usual. This has led to some interesting interactions when the parents feeding visits overlap as witnessed on the LIVE CahowCams 1&2.”
This Season has also seen the return of the Stormy the Worlds Loneliest (and annoying) Petrel who has once again decided to cohabitate with the Cahows in CahowCam2 where he has been serenading to their chick on a nightly basis… This year the chick does not seem to be as patient as the one from last season and has already evicted Stormy a few times, tune in nightly to watch as the saga unfolds…”
"Stormy the Loneliest Petrel" has returned once again!
UPDATE: April 22nd 2020 | Stormy is back once again, returning last night around 1:30 am, making multiple visits throughout the night to a somewhat bewildered Cahow chick. Time will tell if his persistence continues throughout the season as it has in past years…
Original Post from 2019 | For the third year a very lost, lonely, Leach’s Storm Petrel has returned to Nonsuch Island, this time to the still occupied CahowCam2 burrow where he has been interacting with the Cahow chick and its parents to the bewilderment of scientists and viewers around the World.
In past seasons he has returned in June to the empty CahowCam burrow (see Stormy versus Land Crabs) just after the Cahow chick has fledged and spent weeks building a nest and calling out in vain at night for a mate, hence his nickname. However this year, not only is he early, but he does not seem to be deterred by the current occupants that are several times his size.
Leachs’s Storm Petrels normally nest hundreds to thousands of miles away from Norway to the Maritimes and are the size of a starling averaging just under 50 grams versus the much larger Cahows that range from 300 to 450 grams.
His antics over the past few nights have seemed at times aggressive, however the Cahow chick upon examination by Senior Terrestrial Conservation Officer Jeremy Madeiros seems to be doing fine. The one concern is that the presence of this interloper may be deterring the Cahow parents from feeding the chick properly, so its weight and the night time feeding visits will be watched closely.
Should “Stormy” still be around over the next few nights, efforts will be made to catch, band and hopefully introduce him to a different unoccupied burrow.
Rare Cabit found on Nonsuch Island!
A very rare Cabit chick (a Cahow / Rabbit hybrid) has been photographed on Nonsuch Island!
When animals come close to extinction, as in the case of the Cahow, there is always the possibility of cross species heterozygous offspring.
Rabbits from nearby Hen Island must have swum over to Nonsuch Island at some point in the past, prior to the Cahows' rediscovery in 1951 when they were down to the last few pairs and were forced to resort to hybridization to ensure their survival. The gene for the ears seems to be recessive, only appearing every few generations (with the offspring named a "Cabit"), however all chicks in the colony still hatch with soft grey rabbit type fur instead of feathers, which they then molt prior to fledging. The Cahows have also retained the habit of nesting in deep underground burrows which they spend several seasons excavating with their mate.
As explained by Wikipedia:
In biology a hybrid is mix of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species or genera.[1] Using genetics terminology, it may be defined as follows.[2]
In general usage, hybrid is synonymous with heterozygous: any offspring resulting from the breeding of two genetically distinct individuals.
Jean-Pierre Rouja, Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader:
Back in the 1970's when I was a cub-scout we used to go camping on Hen Island in St. Georges which was still overrun with rabbits. Prior to the Airport being built in the 1940's it would have been a relatively easy swim for them to reach Nonsuch. We spent today trying to catch one so that we could take a DNA sample, however they are just too fast. Fortunatley the CahowCam photographed one early this morning so we have further proof of their existence.
Recessive Rabbit-ear gene appears in Tropicbird chick
Researchers on Nonsuch Island have filmed for the first time ever the recessive aure lepus (Rabbit ear) gene appearing in a recently hatched Tropicbird chick.
In past years this extremely rare heterozygous hybrid mutation (a cross between a rabbit and a bird) has been documented in the resident Bermuda Petrel “Cahow” population where the rabbit ears appear every few generations, but this is the first time it has been seen in White-tailed Tropicbird (P. l. catesbyi), which are known locally as “Longtails”.
Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader J-P Rouja: “Our TropicbirdCams are currently offline as normally the earliest they lay their egg is late April, so when I logged into the Cam last night to do some maintenance I was very surprised to find that there is not only a parent in the nest, but a several day old chick. The past few years the Tropicbirds have been returning earlier than usual, in part due to global warming, but as this was much earlier than expected I decided to capture a few minutes of video. It wasn’t until I reviewed it a little later that I observed the aure lepus gene presenting itself, which I believe is the first time ever in Tropicbirds.”
The Nonsuch Island Nature Reserve is the only place that this phenomenon has been documented with the first known observation being with Cahows in 2015.
As explained by Wikipedia:
In biology a hybrid is mix of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species or genera.[1] Using genetics terminology, it may be defined as follows.[2]
In general usage, hybrid is synonymous with heterozygous: any offspring resulting from the breeding of two genetically distinct individuals.
Coronavirus Nonsuch Island Update
Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and out of an abundance of caution (as the transmission from humans to animals has not been completely ruled out yet), Jeremy is wearing a face mask and gloves and is disinfecting himself before interacting with the Cahows so as to not risk affecting them.
Likewise, due to social-distancing protocols (making traveling together on a small boat impractical), Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader and Filmmaker J-P will not be accompanying Jeremy to Nonsuch in the near future and will instead be filming from home by capturing the CahowCam live feeds and operating the PTZ SurfaceCam remotely to produce videos such as the one below.
Unfortunately as Jeremy is on the island on his own, and the mic from the SurfaceCam is currently not working, the only available audio is being captured by the underground cameras when the burrow lids are open, therefore it may be substandard in the short term...
You may watch the Cams LIVE here and the latest health update below.
Stay Well
J-P & Jeremy
2020 CahowCam2 chick has hatched!
March 8th 2020 12:46 pm
Scientists, students and followers around the World were watching as the new chick in the CahowCam2 burrow was finally revealed.
Its peeps had been heard for the past few hours once it had “pipped” and started breaking its way out of its egg, but as this process can at time take 24 hours or longer, viewers were not sure as to when it would completely hatch.
This is the second CahowCam chick to hatch this Season as the first had hatched in the burrow being monitored by CahowCam1eight days prior, and is doing very well.
The CahowCam2 female which had been taking turns with its mate to incubate the egg for the past 50 days, fed the chick its first few meals by regurgitating food it had been storing since its last trip out to sea. The following evening it departed to forage for food leaving the chick alone, less than 36 hours after hatching, which is not uncommon for the species.
J-P Rouja - Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader | "The past 2 seasons the Nonsuch Expeditions Team has been collaborating on a new “Bermuda Petrel Biomonitoring Project” with the DENR and researchers from MARE / ISPA which has been geo-tagging some of the birds in the Colony.
One of things we are observing is that this year the birds seem to be foraging closer to Bermuda than last year, allowing for shorter excursions, more frequent feeding visits and higher overall body weights throughout the colonies.
This is clearly being seen in the CahowCam1 burrow where the chick has been fed almost every night, at times from both parents, versus extreme examples from the past where a parent has flown thousands of miles over 10 days to find food to feed the chick just once…
Should these favorable conditions continue over the next 3 months it should help us match or even break last years record of 73 successfully fledged chicks.”
Interested viewers can watch the chicks develop in both the CahowCam1 and CahowCam2 nest over the next few months via www.nonsuchisland.com where they may also sign up to the Newsletter for Nonsuch updates and alerts to significant nesting events.
Educators may also contact us for class room resources and video replays.
CahowCam2 Hatching Alert!
March 6th 2020 | The egg on CahowCam2 is on hatching alert! Tune in to watch it LIVE now. Followers that wish to receive email alerts of the realtime hatching should sign up for our Newsletter.
It has now reached its 49th day of incubation so if all goes well it will hatch anytime in the next few days.
Update March 8th, 11 am | The incubating parent has not revealed the egg (or a chick) over the past few hours, and it is not uncommon for the chick to communicate with the parent throughout the hatching process which can take 24 hours or longer once the egg has "pipped", however based on the increased amount of peeping and the parents’ activity, it appears to be in the more advanced stages of hatching.
This follows the successful hatching of the chick in the neighboring CahowCam1 nest, 1 week ago on its 49th day of incubation, whilst thousands of viewers watched from around the World.
4 day old CahowCam1 chick.
CahowCam1 Highlights: The 1-week-old cahow Bermuda Cahow chick is reunited with one of its parents last night for a long, 6-hour bout of feeding, cuddling, and "nestorations." Throughout the nestling period, both adults will return to feed their chick in between foraging sessions.
Hello World! The 2020 CahowCam1 Chick has hatched!
As the Nonsuch Expeditions Team and followers from around the World watched online, the Cahow chick in burrow #831 where CahowCam1 is located hatched around midnight on Friday the 28th, officially launching the 2020 CahowCam Season…
Watch a video of its’ 1st health check (including highlights of the hatching process) produced by Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader J-P Rouja as he and Jeremy headed out to Nonsuch the following day to check on the Colony. (Read Jeremy’s report below)
Jeremy Madeiros | Principle Conservation Officer (Terrestrial Conservation), Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources
“As the end of February approached, we began to prepare for the first Cahow chicks to begin hatching, as this usually occurs around the 26th to 28th of the month. Cahow eggs take from 50 - 55 days to hatch after being laid and incubated in turns by both adult birds.
Sure enough, in the early morning hours of 28th February, 2020, an eagle-eyed viewer spotted the first signs of a pip, or small hole in the shell of the egg in the "CahowCam 1" (R831) nest on Nonsuch Island, which is the first sign that a chick is beginning the often lengthy process of breaking out of the eggshell. by 3.00pm that afternoon, the pip was getting larger and the chick could easily be heard cheeping from inside the egg.
By 11,18pm that evening, the egg was splitting apart across the top, and by 11.40pm the chick was clearly emerging. At 11.51pm, the chick was mostly out of the egg, but still wearing the shell on its posterior like a diaper! The chick then fully emerged shortly after. The adult bird incubating the egg during the hatching then gently preened the chick and brooded it until its down had dried out and the chick assumed its normal "fluffy" appearance.
I managed to get out with JP Rouja to Nonsuch Island on the following day, Saturday 29th February (as it was a "Leap Year"), where we found that the CahowCam 1 chick was one of four Cahow chicks that had already hatched on Nonsuch. I was also able to confirm that it was the male bird (band no. E0197) that was with the chick during the hatching, and that the 14-hour old chick already weighed 54 grams. Since a newly hatched Cahow chick weighs between 34-39 grams, it had obviously already been fed by its father. It was also clear that the male had been incubating the egg for some time and was probably on the verge of being relieved by the female, as its own weight was down to 305 grams, compared to 421 grams when it first arrived in early January to begin sharing egg incubation duties with the female bird.
At 4.00am the following morning, after feeding the chick again, the male left the nest burrow, and was seen departing to sea on the surface cam shortly afterwards at 4.07am. After spending its first day alone, the chick was then joined by the female bird, which arrived in gale-force winds as soon as darkness fell at 6.59pm on the night of 1st March. We were relieved to see the mother begin bonding immediately, preening & feeding the chick and then staying over in the nest with it the rest of the night and the following day. We hope to get out again on Tuesday as soon as the current strong winds subside, and see if additional chicks have hatched on the island."
NEST INVASION AT CAHOWCAM 2
NONSUCH NEST BURROW #832 - Night of January 18th
“Here are my observations on the nest invasion by the prospecting Cahow earlier tonight: - Night of 18th Jan. 2020
The resident Cahow pair (Male E0174 bird and Female E0172 bird) were resting quietly together in the CahowCam 2 nest, with the female bird incubating the egg laid on the previous night;
At 8.02.38 pm, the surface cam caught an adult Cahow walking into view from the left (uphill), to the top of the R832 nest burrow entrance; it sits there for some time, preens briefly and opens wings briefly.
At 8.06.30 pm, another Cahow flies over the Cahow on the ground.
At 8.08.10 pm, Cahow climbs down in front of R832 nest entrance, looks in, and goes into tunnel by 8.08.55 pm.
Inside the nest chamber, where the 2 resident Cahows are resting quietly, the intruder Cahow appears at 8.13.15 pm, enters the nest chamber, and immediately jumps on the female, grabbing the back of her head in its bill. The large resident male immediately jumps across and grabs the head of the intruder, with loud calls by all birds, and a brief but vicious fight breaks out, with the female also appearing to join the attack on the intruder. This struggle lasts about 45 seconds with all 3 birds embroiled in a confusion of flapping wings, at which time the intruder breaks loose and quickly runs back out through the entrance tunnel. In the confusion, the resident male appears to mistakenly grab the resident female (his mate) by the head in his bill for several seconds before he realizes his mistake, releases her and runs out after the intruder into the entrance tunnel at 8.14 pm.”
WARNING - Watching attached video might prove distressing to some viewers - WARNING
“At 8.14.06pm, the surface cam then records the intruder emerging from the entrance chased by the resident male, who does not come out, but goes back into the nest to the female once he is sure that the intruder has gone.
By 8.15.30 pm, The intruder bird then scuttles quickly down the trail behind the R832 nest entrance, away from the nest and towards the next group of nest burrows.
Back inside the nest chamber, the female appears shaken and quickly gets back on the egg, which looks undamaged; the resident male returns into the nest chamber a minute later, and is quite protective around the female - both make repeated short quiet high cheeps - indicating perhaps anxiety, distress, reassurance? Things gradually settle back down and the intruder does not reappear.
After reviewing both the CahowCam 2 burrow-cam and the surface cam a number of times, it appears that the intruder was a prospecting unattached young Cahow, most likely a male, which has recently returned as an adult and is looking for a nest burrow to claim and then try and attract a mate to.
All the best, Jeremy”
Jeremy Madeiros, Senior Conservation Officer (Terrestrial), Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, BERMUDA
UPDATE from Nonsuch Expeditions Team: “The pair and their egg seem to be fine after the incident, however we will be conducting a nest / health check on Sunday morning and will update this page shortly thereafter.”
CahowCam 2 Pair reveal their egg
Nest observations of egg laying by Jeremy Madeiros Principle Scientist - Terrestrial Conservation, Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, BERMUDA
NONSUCH ISLAND - Translocation Colony A - Burrow # R832 | CahowCam 2
Night of 13/14th January | The male, E0174 Cahow had returned; when checked on Thursday the 16th his weight was 453 grams;
1.57 am | The female, E0172 Cahow returned at , and joined the male in the nest chamber; mutual calls, male preens female;
2.37 am | The male has gone into the entrance tunnel to the nest, and the female starts egg-laying. Female spreads tail and gives short grunt at the end of every push/contraction while the egg passes through the cloaca;
2.40 am | The egg is laid - the female looks under her belly, then settles onto the egg;
* (this is the shortest time between arrival by the female and her laying her egg that has yet been recorded; 43 minutes from arrival to egg-laying)
3.00 am | Male Cahow comes back into nest chamber, gently nudges the female off the egg, and settles on the egg by 3.02 am;
3.03 am | Not to be outdone, the female almost immediately pushes the larger male back off the egg and settles back on the egg for the rest of the night, while the male settles back next to her; they stay together this way for most of the remainder of the night.
Fascinating observations and we will continue to observe; it will be interesting to see if the female heads back out to sea tomorrow night and turns over egg incubation to the male, as happened with the CahowCam 1 (R831) nest, or if she stays on for a few days.
CahowCam Star lays egg - Starting the 2020 Nesting Season
January 10th 2020 | 2:05 AM
The female Cahow has returned to burrow #831, in Translocation Colony A on Nonsuch Island in Bermuda from which CahowCam 1 has been live streaming for the past 8 years…
Traditionally, after spending December apart out at sea foraging, the females arrive first, laying their single egg within hours of their return with the male then arriving 1 to 3 days later to take over incubation; however in this case the male had arrived 3 days prior and was awaiting her return.
This gave scientists and followers around the world including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Team, Jeremy Madeiros - Senior Terrestrial Conservation Officer from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources and Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader J-P Rouja the rare opportunity to observe for the first time ever, how a male Cahow would react to the normally solitary egg laying process.
After preening each other and re-distributing the nest materials for the first hour, the female settled in to lay her single egg around 03:12 whilst being attentively observed by her mate and by 03:14 it had been laid! (see video below).
Jeremy has been tracking bird returns and egg laying dates throughout the Colonies for decades and not only did this year produce one of the earliest eggs being laid on record (back on December 27th) but then, when the first bird to arrive in the CahowCam nest did not promptly lay an egg as expected, a quick outing to Nonsuch was organized to confirm that it was in fact the male.
As of the time of this writing, both Cahows were in the nest which can be watched LIVE at www.nonsuchisland.com and it will be interesting to see if the female departs immediately or spends a day or two sharing the egg with her mate before leaving him to take on the first incubation shift which is usually around 2 weeks.
Viewers can also tune in to wait for the return of the pair in the CahowCam 2 nest which is still empty, the nesting timing of which tends to be about week later than CahowCam 1, which last season also hosted a somewhat annoying room-mate: Stormy The Loneliest Petrel.
Incubation is on average 53-55 days, after which if all goes well, tens of thousands of viewers will be watching to see the chicks hatch, if interested in alerts, please sign up to our Newsletter.
We are looking forward to another very interesting and hopefully record breaking year!
Cahow has returned to CahowCam 1 !
January 7th 2020 00:16 AM | Jeremy Madeiros
The female returned to the CahowCam 1 nest (R831) tonight at 12.16 am. It was visible on the surface cam from about 12.11 am, made 14 quick passes overhead, landed at 12.15.55, and immediately entered the nest.
UPDATE | Generally the female is the first to return, but have just spoken with Jeremy and the fact that there isn't an egg as of 8am might indicate that this is in fact the male so have adjusted the post accordingly. He will try to get out to Nonsuch later today to check, so will keep you posted.
2020 CahowCam egg expected - watch LIVE
The 2020 Cahow nesting is off to an early start with the earliest recorded egg having been logged by Jeremy on December 28th in one of the burrows in Nonsuch Island Translocation Colony A where the CahowCams are also located.
The pair from CahowCam burrow #1 having returned early for their November courtship period are also expected to return early to lay their egg. Last year the female returned on the 10th and laid the egg within a few hours, so Jeremy is anticipating that she will return “any night now”.
New Years Land Crab visit.
Followers wishing to witness this should tune in after dusk which is around 6pm Atlantic time to watch CahowCam 1.
The pair in CahowCam 2 were later last year and are expected to be so again, around mid January.
On New Years Eve the CahowCam 1 burrow was paid a visit by a land crab which spent about an hour scavenging before leaving. Land crabs are known to clean out the empty burrows but tend to avoid them when the Cahows are present, as even diminutive Stormy was able to chase them away…
Happy Holidays from Nonsuch Island!
Wishing everybody a Happy Holiday Season.
Please join our Team and the Cahow families in 2020 for what looks set to be another record breaking nesting season.
Be sure to tune in LIVE to catch the females return and prompt laying of their single egg in early January.
If you would like to be alerted of these and other nesting developments, sign up to our Newsletter and select the CahowCam alert option.
If you aren’t already please also follow our FaceBook - Instagram and Twitter feeds.
If you are a Teacher please contact us prior to the projected hatching of the egg(s) in early March for educational resources.
Best Wishes
J-P, Jeremy, Charles, Ben & The Nonsuch Expeditions / Department of the Environment and Natural Resources and Cornell Lab of Ornithology Teams