Whilst the majority of the pairs in the Nonsuch and outer colonies have now returned and are each incubating their single eggs, Jeremy, JP and the online followers anxiously await the return and egg-laying in the CahowCam2 burrow. The resident pair are usually one of the last pairs to return, and were expected around the 15th, and yet again the paternity of their potential egg is in question, extending the now very well documented “Who’s the Daddy” saga.
On the evening of the 15th around 7:30 pm a Cahow arrived on the front edge of a 50 knot winter squall. If it was in fact the resident female, her egg would be expected within the hour, however the storm almost immediately took the internet connection and cameras offline leaving everyone in suspense.
Jeremy and JP therefore made another weekend trip out to Nonsuch to see who was in the burrow, and if there was an egg yet, and found a new prospecting male Cahow, instead of the resident pair.
So as to avoid another fight when Sampson returned, after a health check as seen in the video below, Jeremy returned the young male to an empty burrow further up the hill, with the hope that it would in turn settle in that one and avoid a conflict with Sampson, which he was most likely to lose…
Re the internet access, back on the mainland, 3rd party contractors had loosened the tower-mounted private microwave dish through which the LiveStream cameras reach the internet, and the subsequent winds had blown it off, damaging it in the process. As of this post on the 18th it was still not repaired despite intensive efforts over the weekend by JP with support from the BAA and LiveNet (*NB: There was not an issue with our Digicel internet access).
We hope to be live again ASAP so that we can monitor CahowCam2 in particular.