Skip to main content

Bermuda Petrels Begin Breeding Season With An Egg In Cahow Cam 1 Burrow

Join the Bermuda Petrels on their journey through the 2023 breeding season.

Watch the Bermuda Petrels from Cahow Cam 1 reunite and welcome their single egg.

Big news from Nonsuch Island, Bermuda! The breeding season has begun for the Bermuda Petrels—one of the world’s rarest and most endangered seabirds—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 lays 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 last moment these two saw each other was in early November—a time when cahow pairs across the colony reunite to court and mate in preparation for January egg laying. This single egg will command much of their attention over the 50-day incubation period. During this time, the adults will switch off duties incubating in the burrow while the other forages at sea.

Catch all the action live on the Bermuda Cahow cam, and follow daily updates on Twitter @BermudaCahowCam.

The Bermuda Cahow cam is in collaboration with our parters at Nonsuch Expeditions.

Bird Cams is a free resource

providing a virtual window into the natural world
of birds and funded by donors like you

Pileated Woodpecker by Lin McGrew / Macaulay Library