Video: Second Cahow Chick Revealed
As scientists, students, and viewers from around the world watched online, a second Cahow chick hatched live on camera, following the first hatching of the season on February 28.
A spokesperson said, “Scientists, students, and followers around the world were watching as the new chick in the CahowCam2 burrow was finally revealed.
“Its peeps had been heard for the past few hours after it had ‘pipped’ and started breaking its way out of its egg, but as this process can at times take 24 hours or longer, viewers were not sure as to when it would completely hatch.
“This is the second CahowCam chick to hatch this season after the first had hatched in the burrow being monitored by CahowCam1eight days prior, and is doing very well.
“The CahowCam2 female, which had been taking turns with its mate to incubate the egg for the past 50 days, fed the chick its first few meals by regurgitating food it had been storing since its last trip out to sea. The following evening it departed to forage for food, leaving the chick alone less than 36 hours after hatching, which is not uncommon for the species.”
Jean-Pierre Rouja, Nonsuch Expeditions Team Leader, said, “For the past two seasons, the Nonsuch Expeditions Team has been collaborating on a new Bermuda Petrel Biomonitoring Project with the DENR and researchers from MARE / ISPA, which has been geo-tagging some of the birds in the colony.
“One of things we are observing is that this year the birds seem to be foraging closer to Bermuda than last year, allowing for shorter excursions, more frequent feeding visits, and higher overall body weights throughout the colonies.
“This is clearly being seen in the CahowCam1 burrow where the chick has been fed almost every night, at times from both parents, versus extreme examples from the past where a parent has flown thousands of miles over 10 days to find food to feed the chick just once.
“Should these favorable conditions continue over the next three months, it should help us match or even break last year’s record of 73 successfully fledged chicks.”
For more information or to observe the CahowCam, visit nonsuchisland.com.
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