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Cahow: Bermuda Petrel: Pterodroma cahow
Monotypic.
Thought to be more closely related to
Fea's Petrel than
Black-capped Petrel.
Known as the Cahow in Bermuda. Was once a relatively numerous breeder on Bermuda (estiimated 500,000 birds), however, the species was nearly driven to extinction by the introduction of mammals (pigs, dogs, cats and rats) during the 1500 and 1600's. The species had essentially vanished by 1620. The type specimen taken by Louis Mowbray in 1906 and breeding rediscovered in 1951. The species is making a slow but steady come-back under the watchful eye of the David Wingate and the Berumda Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Parks. The total world population was estimated at less than 200 individuals in 1996 and threats to further growth of the population remain.
Once an abundant nesting seabird throughout Bermuda, this petrel was thought extinct for three centuries before 18 pairs were rediscovered breeding on tiny suboptimal islets in Castle Harbour between 1951 and 1961, since when intensive management (including the elimination of nest-site competition) has wrought a slow but steady increase to over 40 breeding pairs in the 1990s.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE CAHOW
The Cahow (see Remarks 1) or Bermuda Petrel is endemic to the island of Bermuda, Atlantic Ocean, where at the time of the early settlers' arrival in the sixteenth century it was widespread throughout the main island and its adjacent satellites, although it is now confined to four of the smallest islets (1 ha in total area) in Castle Harbour, east Bermuda (Bent 1922, Beebe 1935, Murphy and Mowbray 1951, Wingate 1985). Virtually nothing is known of its range at sea, but it probably wanders to the offshore waters of the southern Atlantic states (Clapp et al. 1982), with a possible sight record off the coast of North Carolina at 35°18íN 74°45íW on 18 April 1983 (Lee 1984). The only tangible evidence of the species away from its breeding grounds is that of fossil bones of at least one individual on Crooked Island, Bahamas (see Olson and Hilgartner 1982).
POPULATION OF THE CAHOW
At the time of Bermuda's discovery by European explorers in the early sixteenth century, the island had no indigenous human inhabitants or other mammals and there were large nesting colonies of seabirds, notably the endemic petrel (Wingate 1985). Evidence from first travellers, early settlers (see, e.g., Verrill 1902, Bent 1922, Beebe 1935, Bradlee et al. 1931) and fossil bones shows that the species must have been extremely abundant throughout the island (Shufeldt 1916, Wingate 1960, 1978), but excessive human exploitation for food and introduced mammal predators (see Threats) quickly relegated it to a few offshore islands, notably Cooper's, so that as early as 1621 it was believed extinct (Verrill 1902, Nichols and Mowbray 1916, Shufeldt 1916, Bent 1922, Murphy and Mowbray 1951, Wingate 1960, 1985), a view that persisted for three centuries until its haltingly slow rediscovery from 1906 to 1951 (Beebe 1935, Murphy and Mowbray 1951; see Remarks 2). By 1951 when the first breeding sites were discovered the species was in fact very close to extinction, with only 18 pairs remaining (Wingate 1978). It was estimated that since nest-site competition with White-tailed Tropicbirds Phaethon lepturus started, the decline of the Cahow must have been in the order of 50% every 30 years, and thus in 1906, when the first specimen was collected on Castle Island (a site where cahows no longer breed), the population may have numbered around 70 nesting pairs (Wingate 1978). As a result of continuous management efforts (see Measures Taken), the species's total population in Castle Harbour has steadily increased since 1962 from 18 pairs (eight young fledged) to 43 established pairs (23 young fledged) and five establishing pairs in 1992 (45 being the maximum in 1989, as of 1992 with 28 young fledged) (D. B. Wingate in litt. 1991, 1992). The total population is estimated at approximately 150 birds (D. B. Wingate in litt. 1992). Following management of Nonsuch Island (see Measures Taken), which could easily accommodate a population in excess of 1,000 pairs (many more with the use of artificial burrows), eventual recolonization by the species is expected (Wingate 1985).
