The increase from last year’s record of 19 fledged, to 25+ hatched this year, keeps us on track for setting a new record should the majority successfully fledge this year, and is further validation of the success of the Translocation Program initiated by Jeremy in 2004.
The CahowCam1 chick is being fed regularly as documented by the LiveStream and is now the largest in the Colony, however, next door in CahowCam2 the news isn’t as good as despite the surprise latest Cahow egg-laying on record, the original male and his new mate (which joined him after his original one failed to return last year), will not be hatching a chick this season, though historically this is to be expected of newly formed pairs, see Jeremy’s explanation in the video below:
“I went out to Nonsuch on the 27th to carry out a Cahow nest check; I had intended to try and land on some of the smaller islands, but there was a large ocean swell, almost a ground swell, up to 11-14 feet on the outer reefs, caused by a low pressure center that passed over us the day before and was now to the southeast - unsafe to go around Coopers Point or even attempt landings. Even at Nonsuch, there was quite a surge at the dock.
I can give an update for Nonsuch though - as of Wednesday, 27th March, i can confirm a record number of 25 chicks on Nonsuch, significantly breaking last year's record of 19 fledged chicks, so we have finally broken the 20-chick mark!
Most of the chicks had been recently fed, with several over 300 grams in weight, so the adult Cahows have obviously been taking advantage of the storm system that gave strong winds and rain over the last few days. The heaviest chick on Nonsuch was none other than our own CahowCam 1 chick (nest number R831), which, on its last growth check a week ago on 20th March, weighed in at 190 grams with a wing chord length of 45mm. Yesterday, on March 27th, it had increased to 319 grams (as heavy as an adult female Cahow!), with a wing chord length of 55mm. As this chick is only one-third fledged at this point, with an eventual wing chord length of up to 275mm by the time it will be ready to fledge in about 2 more months, it is obvious that this chick is being well cared for by both adult birds, and I suspect it will become considerably heavier if it continues to be as well taken care of by the parents!
In addition to the chicks, there were also a fair number of adult birds recorded in nests on Nonsuch where the egg had failed. This is normal, as even when the egg has failed in a Cahow nest, the adults will often continue to visit the nest up until the beginning of April, both to strengthen the pair bond and connection to the nest, but also to defend the nest burrow from being taken over by young adult Cahows, newly returned from 3 to 5 years at sea after fledging as chicks, and looking for an empty nest burrow of their own. If the resident male Cahow returns to find a stranger in its nest, it will aggressively eject the stranger from the nest. These fights can be quite vicious, as a Cahow's wicked hooked bill is quite strong and razor-sharp (as I know well, sporting a collection of scars on my hands from adults objecting to me removing them from their nests for id band checks and measurement!)
Finally, to finish up, I was able to confirm at least 1 new pair of Cahows in a spare nest burrow on Nonsuch. I was able to determine from the band number on its leg that the male bird was translocated to the "B" colony site back in 2017, while the female bird originated from a nest on one of the small original nesting islets. This pair should hopefully return next year to the nest to lay their first egg together, which would bring the total number of established breeding pairs on Nonsuch up to 40. There is also still a week or two remaining to discover other new establishing pairs, and hopefully the weather conditions will allow us to make more visits to the nesting islands so that we can determine the total number of hatched chicks for the entire island.”