JP and I have been able to get out to Nonsuch Island twice in the last 10 days, this is an important time in the breeding cycle of Bermuda's endangered national bird, the Cahow. It is important as this is when the eggs are hatching, so that you finally find out what the chick numbers will be this year.
Jeremy, JP & Mark Blaxter
We first went on February 25th with a special guest Mark Blaxter head of the Tree of Life Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, who was in Bermuda for the Bermuda Principles Genomics Conference which JP is also part of wearing his BioQuest hat.
We then went back out on the morning of Saturday, 28th Feb. in unusual, foggy conditions that completely hid the islands at times, to meet a larger group also led by JP from the same genomics conference. Following the tour, I was able to carry out a check of all the nest burrows at the "A" nesting colony.
The results were as follows (A colony only):
8 Cahow chicks already hatched, ranging 1 day to 15 days age.
5 Eggs where hatching was underway (an up to 3-day long process).
5 Fertile eggs where embryos are still developing
I will be carrying out further checks this week (weather as always permitting) to the rest of the nests and the "B" colony and will update as I get around to the other nesting islands.
Keep watching the LiveSteams as the egg in CahowCam2 is on track to hatch around March 14th as it was one of the last to be laid this year, and is subject once again to “Who’s the Daddy” concerns…