“A total of 22 Cahow chicks were found to have already hatched, with two additional eggs confirmed as "pipping" in the early stages of hatching, while an additional 3 eggs were confirmed as fertile with normally developing.”
“Following an extended period of time off for a nasty bout of covid, then an additional several days off to recover after testing negative and to satisfy an abundance of caution before handling the birds again, I was finally able to get out to Nonsuch Island on Thursday, 07 March 2024, with research collaborator Letizia Campioni, the last day before she returned home.
I am very thankful to both Conservation Officer Peter Drew (my assistant and strong right arm!) and Letizia for stepping up while I was incapacitated to continue regular Cahow nest checks, so that we had a good idea of the numbers and dates of Cahow chicks hatching on the various nesting islands, as well as checking any adult Cahows found in the nests, to record adult weights and band numbers.
I have been instructing Peter for a number of years in carrying out nest checks and handling and measurement of the adult and fledgling Cahows, as well as White-tailed Tropicbirds (Longtails), which are the main two seabird species under study and management by the Terrestrial Conservation Division of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources, while Letizia has extensive experience handling and studying a variety of seabird species.
My check on the 7th March confirmed that as chicks have continued to hatch on Nonsuch Island, we are now at record numbers of chicks for the newly established nesting colonies on Nonsuch. A total of 22 Cahow chicks were found to have already hatched, with two additional eggs confirmed as "pipping" in the early stages of hatching, while an additional 3 eggs were confirmed as fertile with normally developing embryos and were still being incubated by adult Cahows. This would well exceed last year's record number of 19 successfully fledged Cahow chicks for Nonsuch Island.
A highlight of the check was finally being able to check and weigh the Cahow chick in the CahowCam1 (R831) nest, the first time I have been able to do so since this chick hatched on February 27th. This chick has been fed almost nightly since hatching, mainly by the male parent (band no. E0197), who was also present when the chick hatched. During the check on the 7th March, however, the female parent (band no. E0212) was in the nest with the chick after arriving the previous night and feeding the chick. Meanwhile, the now 9-day old chick had already increased from its hatch weight of 34-38 grams to 126 grams and is already one of the heaviest chicks measured on Nonsuch. Letizia was able to take a number of photos of this and other chicks on Nonsuch.
At this point, we are just waiting to see how many of the remaining eggs hatch, to know just how many Cahow chicks we end up with on Nonsuch, but it looks all but certain that Nonsuch will host a record number of chicks, and may in fact exceed Horn Rock for the first time as the nesting island with the highest number of chicks fledged for 2024.
This is only 20 years after the translocation program was started to establish new nesting colonies on Nonsuch Island, that are high enough to not be subject to the hurricane flooding and erosion damage that is an increasing problem on all 4 of the smaller original nesting islets. The original islets were the sole nesting location for this critically endangered species for some 400 years, after hunting, destruction of habitat and the introduction of mammal predators such as rats, cats, dogs and pigs destroyed the nesting colonies on the larger islands of Bermuda.
2024 is looking like it will be an eventful one for Bermuda's National Bird!”