Bermuda Cahow Cam Timeline

Barely 24 hours after the egg first pipped we were greeted with the sight of a wet, gray chick working its way out the shell at 1:47AM, and we were rewarded with a full view of its transformation into a fluffy, downy hatchling nestled in next to its father nearly 5 hours later.

The Cahow Cam 2 female has returned to her nesting burrow on Nonsuch Island, Bermuda, to reunite with her mate and lay their single egg. The male has been waiting for her return since the morning of January 15. Watch the excitement as the pair bursts out of the tunnel and into their underground nesting burrow at 7:17 P.M. on January 18. They work together to prepare the nest before the female hunkers down to lay the egg at 8:05 P.M.

The breeding season has begun for the Bermuda Petrels nesting in the Cahow Cam 1 burrow! After the male cahow returned on the evening of January 6, he spent about 36 hours in the nesting burrow waiting to greet his mate, who arrived at 3:15 A.M. on January 8 to lay a single egg. Watch the female make a beeline flight into the nesting burrow, where she is greeted by her jubilant partner. The reunion is accentuated with piercing vocalizations and plenty of preening. After a fair bit of “nestorations”, the female hunkers down and laid an egg precisely one hour after her return. Excitement abounds once the egg arrives, and the pair takes turns huddling over the egg and piling up nest substrate around it.

The Bermuda Petrels from the Cahow Cam 2 burrow have returned this past week for the November Courtship period. Here, they spend a portion of the morning together in the burrow with some gentle preening. This pair typically lags a week or two behind the pair from the Cahow Cam 1 burrow.

Bermuda Petrels (known as Cahows) return to their underground burrows in November to begin the breeding season. Throughout the month they bond with their mate, copulate, and spend time rearranging their nest burrows. If all goes well, we should expect an egg in early January. The petrels from the Cahow Cam 1 burrow returned a bit earlier than normal for the November courtship period this year. The first bird returned around 7:30 P.M. on Oct. 25, and its mate arrived hours later in the wee morning hours of Oct. 26.

The Bermuda Petrel chick from Cahow Cam 2 (named Totoro) also embarked on its first voyage over the Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of June 11. Watch the 91-day-old nestling flap its wings and disappear into the night sky off the coast of Nonsuch Island, Bermuda. 

The Bermuda Petrel (aka “cahow”) chick from the Cahow Cam 1 burrow has likely fledged! After spending the evening of May 25 exploring and flapping its wings outside of the nesting burrow, the chick named “Atlas” wandered down the cliff out of view of the cam, where it likely took wing over the Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of May 26.

Have you met the new Bermuda Petrel hatchling from the Cahow Cam 2 burrow? This chick recently hatched on March 12. After spending its first solo bout in the nesting burrow, the 4-day old petrel was greeted with its first visit from dad on the morning of March 16.

After spending about 24 hours working its way out of the egg, the Bermuda Cahow chick hatched in the early morning hours of February 27, on day 50 of incubation! Watch highlights of the tender moments between the fluffy chick and parent following the chick’s emergence.

We have an egg in the CahowCam 2 burrow. The male returned on January 18, and the female arrived in the early hours of January 20. As expected, the female laid her egg within an hour of arriving. Watch egg-laying highlights along with updates from the health check with Cahow expert Jeremy Madeiros.

The female cahow in the CahowCam1 nesting burrow returned to lay a single egg on January 8. Watch this video from our partners at Nonsuch Expeditions as biologists from the Bermuda Department of Environment and Natural Resources check the viability of the egg after it has had time to develop!

The female chick from the CahowCam 2 nesting burrow fledged on June 5 at 10:43 P.M. Watch the chick’s final minutes on the island as she exits the nesting burrow one last time, practices flapping her wings, and effortlessly rises out of frame and into the skies over the Atlantic Ocean! The CahowCam 2 chick’s first flight comes 88 days after hatching. She will now spend the next 4–6 years at sea before she matures and returns to Bermuda to find a mate and breed. Thanks for watching and learning with us over the 2021 Bermuda Cahow cam season. We are excited to welcome another new fledgling into the growing world population of Bermuda Petrels—a species once thought to be extinct for more than 300 years.

The Bermuda Petrel chick hatched last night in the CahowCam2 burrow. Watch highlights of the progression from pipped egg to full-on fluffball.

In an update from Nonsuch Island, Bermuda, we learn sad news from the CahowCam 1 nest as Senior Terrestrial Conservation Officer Jeremy Madeiros confirms that its egg is infertile. Watch as he then fits the male with a geolocator tag that will track the bird’s movements over the next 1 to 2 years.

Watch highlights from CahowCam 2 when the male welcomes back his mate in the nesting burrow on January 17. After some cuddling and preening, the male relocated to the tunnel entrance while the female rearranges some leaves and grass in the nesting burrow, where she promptly lays her egg at 8:25 PM.

A pair of Bermuda Petrels reunited at their nest site on CahowCam 1 to begin the 2021 nesting period. Watch the male greet his mate with high-pitched, throaty squawks and tender preening in the late hours of January 9. Within an hour of her return, the female hunkered down and laid a single egg at 11:19 PM.

At 94 days post-hatch, the CahowCam2 star chick Zephyr fledged just before midnight on June 10. Watch the fledgling petrel exit its nesting burrow for the last time, exercise its long wings, climb up to its preferred location atop some dense vegetation, and take wing for the first time.

Jeremy and his daughter Lizzy name the CahowCam2 chick “Zephyr” as the chick nears fledging.

At 2:03 AM on May 25, the 87-day-old chick “Nemo” from the CahowCam1 burrow fledged. Watch highlights of the chick in the hours leading up to liftoff. The chick starts off by testing its wings with some rapid flapping before it begins exploring the area outside of the nesting tunnel’s entrance. Stay until the end to see the young petrel make a confident flight towards open water. Now the the chick has fledged, it will spend the next 3-6 years at sea before returning to its breeding grounds in search of a mate.

Watch Jeremy Madeiros check in with the CahowCam1 chick one last time on May 24, when he reveals the chick’s new name “Nemo.”

After 49 days of incubation, CahowCam1 welcomed a downy hatching in the late night hours of February 28. Join Bermuda Petrel expert Jeremy Madeiros and our partners at Nonsuch Expeditions as they venture out to check on Nonsuch Island’s newest resident just hours after hatching.