The Bermuda Petrel (Pterodroma cahow)
Bermuda's National bird is the Bermuda Petrel, or commonly known as the Cahow. It is the second rarest seabird on the planet. It is a pelagic bird which means that it spends most of its adult life flying over the open ocean. and feeding on small marine creatures like fish, shrimps and squids. These are nocturnal birds and make eerie cries at night. Hearing such strange sounds, the early Spanish sailors thought Bermuda was a Devil's place and never tried to settle in the island and called the island 'Isle of Devils'.

The first British settlers who came to Bermuda in early 1600s, killed the Cahows recklessly. During the day time the birds would come back to their base, remain quite tame and become easy preys. And soon the Cahows became virtually extinct in Bermuda.

In 1935 a Cahow flew in and hit the St. David's Lighthouse, fell down and died. The feathers indicated it was a young bird. And later in 1951 after some 320 years of near extinction and when all had virtually given up hopes to see these birds again, strangely 18 of them were found in the Castle Harbor Island.

David Wingate, a retired conservationist of Bermuda had immediately setup a program to conserve these birds, create a base for them in Nonsuch Island and build nesting burrows. By the time he retired in 2000, there were 50 pairs of Cahow in the island.

Cahows are nocturnal birds and hard to spot. They are a dark-colored seabird and their upper part is black/dark Grey, and the bottom part (throat to belly) is usually white in color. Their average length is 15 inches and the wing span is about 35 inches. They mostly feed on squids and shrimps. They usually nest in small rocky islands in Castle Harbor.

These birds are slow breeders. Once 5 years old, they come back to their base for mating. They mate only once per year and lay only one egg. The normal incubation period is 51 to 54 days. The number of Cahows in Bermuda has now reached the landmark figure of 100 nesting pairs. When they are not breeding, they are often found flying into the Atlantic and following the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
The Cahow was believed to be extinct for nearly 300 years until several were found in 1951. Since that time, dedicated conservationists have worked to bring this species back from the brink of extinction.

Source: https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2_0000ce.htm

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