Article from the Bermudian Magazine Website > March 16, 2022
Written by: Fae Sapsford
JP Rouja installing first generation of CahowCam in 2012 | Photo Chris Burville
Article Excerpt: Inside a cahow’s egg, the chick’s skull takes up most of the room – they are packed in tightly, their whole bodies folded up. When they hatch in late February and early March, in just hours they take up ten times the room that the egg they have just emerged from did, puffing up to a ridiculous size as their fluffy down dries out. The flamboyant grey down chicks are precious things – they represent incredible time and energy investment from the cahow parents, which mate for life – and they are a testament to the tremendous dedication of Bermudian conservationists, who have enabled this ‘Lazarus species’ to be brought back from the brink of extinction.
All 155 pairs, representing the entire species of the rare bird, nest on Nonsuch Island and a few small, surrounding rocks. This incredible living museum, designed to represent pre-colonial Bermudian ecology, free from introduced flora and fauna, was created to enable cahows to thrive. Though the cahow is Bermuda’s national bird, few Bermudians have seen one in person: Nonsuch Island (currently closed due to covid) grants very limited access to the public in order to protect the survival of the fragile species, and the recovery programme is carefully managed by principal scientist for terrestrial conservation in Bermuda, Jeremy Madeiros. However – thousands of people watch the mating, nesting, hatching, and fledging of this living fossil every year through the ingenuity of fellow cahow champion, Jean-Pierre Rouja… Read Full Article of the History of the CahowCam on the Bermudian Website