On Wednesday, 19th February 2025, J.P. Rouja and myself were able to make a Cahow nest check on Nonsuch Island, during which we were able to confirm the first hatched Cahow chick of 2025! This chick was found in the R833 nest at the "A" Cahow nesting colony on Nonsuch, and was already several days old, having been fed at least 2 to 3 times by the adult birds. Cahow chicks have a weight of 28 - 38 grams at hatching and this chick was already fat and healthy, weighing 68 grams, which Cahow chicks typically do not reach until they are at least 4 days old. This would make the hatch date the 15th or 16th of February, handily beating my previous earliest hatch date over the last 25 years of 18th February.
The breeding pair of Cahows in this nest is an interesting one, having nested together here since 2012 (14 years). I translocated the male parent bird on May 7th, 2008, from the Horn Rock C12 nest over to the Nonsuch Island R817 nest and it was the first Cahow chick translocated during the 5th year of the first 5-year Cahow translocation project. This chick was fed daily on fresh Anchovies (provided by Mr. Chris Flook) and squid with vitamin supplements for 17 days, and I actually observed it during a night watch fledging out to sea on the night of 24th May at 11.54pm, from the cliff edge at the "A" colony site in a steady light rain! This bird was discovered on its first return as an adult 4 years later on November 15, 2012, when it was discovered in the R833 burrow, where it has nested ever since!
The female parent Cahow from this nest, band number E0215, is a non-translocated bird which I banded as an exercising fledgling outside the Horn Rock D4 nest burrow, during a night check on 28th May 2006. It was very mature at that point and probably only 2 to 3 nights from fledging. The next time this bird was seen was as an adult in the Nonsuch R833 nest on November 15, 2011, with another returned translocated male Cahow, band no. E0250. This second bird was never seen again anywhere and probably suffered mortality at sea sometime soon after. So, the female first was seen in this nest a year before her present mate joined her, and this pair has been together ever since.
In summary, this pair have nested together for 14 years, since 2012. They are not a particularly successful pair, before this year they have only produced 3 successfully fledging chicks, in 2014, 2016 and 2018, then had unsuccessful nesting for 6 years (2019-2024). Including this new chick, they have produced only 4 chicks in 14 years (28.5% breeding success). However, despite this, at least 2 of these chicks have returned and are breeding successfully, one on Nonsuch Island, and one on Horn Rock, so they are still contributing to the recovery of the Cahow population.
In addition to this chick, 2 more eggs were recorded pipping, in early stages of hatching, in the Nonsuch R825 and R819 nests (the R819 nest produced the first hatched Cahow chick last year in 2024, so that pair definitely seem to be early birds!). At least half a dozen other eggs were very close to beginning to hatch, so the next checks should be very exciting! Jeremey Madeiros, Chief Terrestrial Conservation Officer.
JP Rouja Nonsuch Expeditions Founder: If the majority of the 30+ chicks in currently viable eggs on Nonsuch survive through to fledging, we should easily break last year’s record of 25, so stay tuned and watch the LiveSteam where the CahowCam2 chick is expected to hatch around March 7th.