The Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow) is a member of the Gadfly petrels, and it is among the 35 species of this genus. It is known by the name cahow in Bermuda, a name based on the eerie cries it has.
Several Bermuda petrels. Image by Richard Crossley, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Like you would expect from the name, this petrel is endemic to the Bermuda islands, a rather small group of islands found east of the United States in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
These days we can only find the Bermuda petrel on Castle Islands, some small islands and islets located in the south-eastern corner of Bermuda. These islands are part of the Castle Harbour Islands Nature Reserve, which was created to prevent the Bermuda petrel from going extinct (again).
Satellite image of the Bermuda islands. Image is Public Domain.
How the Bermuda petrel became “extinct”
The Bermuda petrel was believed to have been abundant on the Bermuda islands before the English settlers arrived in the early 1600s. At this point some sources claim that there were up to 500,000 birds on the islands, but their numbers decline rapidly once the settlers begun to live on the islands.
Not only were the birds directly hunted for food, but the settlers also brought animals such as rats, cats, pigs, and dogs, which all posed a threat to the petrels who lived in burrows on the ground.
You would not believe how fast the settlers managed to eradicate the entire species, and by the 1620s (so only 20 years!), no one could really find anymore Bermuda petrels, and at this point everyone just accepted the fact that they were extinct.
Rediscovery in 1951
Almost 350 years later, two scientists by the names Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray traveled to the Bermuda islands and discovered a small remnant population on four different offshore islets.
Their original paper can actually be read online, and it includes black-and-white pictures of the birds they found. They were certain that this bird was in fact the Bermuda petrel, despite it being a species that had almost achievement a mythical status at that point.
There had been several false rediscoveries in the past, where scientists had misidentified another bird and claimed it to be a Bermuda petrel, but the discovery by Murphy and Mowbray was the first official rediscovery.
Once they were rediscovered, conservation programs quickly began, and this program managed to increase the 18 breeding pairs from the 1960s to a much higher number. I think that the Bermuda petrel was very lucky to get immediate recognition as a species that needed protection, because it might not have survived for much longer if it did not. While it might seem obvious to us today that it should receive protection, the conservation efforts in the 1950s and 60s were far from what they are today, so this was not a given fact at that time.
The Bermuda petrel’s status today
After it was rediscovered, the government on the island has taken action to protect it, and as mentioned above, they created the Castle Harbour Islands Nature Reserve in order to protect it. This area is actually prohibited to enter for the general public, unless you have special permission to do research on the islands. This area is also completely free of rats, one of the animals that were responsible for their initial decline.
A Bermuda petrel chick. Image by Depotgrl, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Right now there are several different conservation efforts in place to take care of the species, and conservationists are working to increase their breeding sites, and thus eliminating the risk that is taken when a species only lives in a single area. However, the Bermuda islands are mostly filled up with houses and other structures, so there's not many suitable places for the birds anymore.
There was 117 registered breeding pairs during the consensus in 2017, so the population is still pretty small compared to most other species of bird. The IUCN Red List considers the species to be Endangered, meaning that it is not facing immediate threat of extinction right now. It is however completely dependent on conservation efforts to keep this status, and it would most likely go extinct rather soon if the islands were no longer protected.
Thanks for reading
I hope you enjoyed the post about the Bermuda petrel - the bird who did not go extinct after all! It's a pretty cool story in my opinion, and hopefully we will make another rediscovery like this in the future!
About @valth
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Nok en gang spennende og lærerikt @Valth
Hva har det seg at du kan så mye om så mange forskjellige dyr på så vidt forskjellige plasser rundt om i verden?
Hehe, tja, si det? Det er vel en kombinasjon av at jeg har vært veldig interessert i dyr og natur helt siden jeg var et lite barn, og at jeg har studert økologi i noen år nå (men det har jo blitt mest om norske arter på skolen da).
Jeg prøver også å holde meg oppdatert på det som skjer på forskningsfroten innenfor biologi, så da lærer jeg også utrolig mye rart om de merkeligste skapninger :)
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@valth, you can't but wonder if they all had a trip into the Bermuda Triangle .
But nice to see they took action so quickly once they rediscovered it.
It certainly seems the birds tried to flee the British which is understandable :) only to be in a less than favorable environment and suffered from being in a place not 100% ideal for it, but it certainly seems with only 500,000 birds it was quite a small population, and I could imagine and virulent disease could go through the colony pretty quickly.
That's an interesting observation. I don't really think they can be that badly damaged by a virulent disease though, because petrels are able to stay out at sea for several years without ever landing on the ground, so I don't think that disease would be such a big problem for them.
Yes perhaps a virulent disease was a bad example, but having such relatively small numbers, along with a massive invasion of their native habitat would certainly have put tremendous pressure on the birds. The disease part came from me thinking about the amount of damage the conquistadors did to the natives on their travels. Decimating a population of birds would ot have been that hard to do.
Ah, I see the point you are making now :) And I agree, they don't really have anywhere to go after people began to settle down on the Bermuda islands, and other islands are very far away.
great news about reappearance of extincted bird Bermuda Petrel. Frankly it's hard to believe the reappearance of bird after 33 decades. Simple logic say that we have these bird at some unknown place we rediscovered them. Birds love to migrate when they find unfavorable conditions.
English settlers along with rats,cats, pigs and dogs really destroyed these beautiful bird. From 500,000 to get extinct in 20 years means killing 2,000/month which is huge. Great news is that series efforts are made for the conservation of bird. Hopefully with the availability of modern facility we have enough bird in 2 decade from a pair of 117 birds. Thanks for sharing @valth
Interesting though, but I think that they hae simply been hiding on some of the more remote Bermuda islands. Some of them are pretty difficult to reach, and the birds are also mostly out at sea. Petrels are some of the best flyers in the entire world, and can actually go many months without landing on land, so it could have been really easy for them to stay hidden for such a long time.
But it would certainly be very cool if they somehow found a new, hidden area where they bred!
Yeah, absolutely. Apparently it was often difficult to get real meat on the Bermuda islands during these times, so the birds would get killed by hungry people who wanted meat.
What an amazing quality they have
It is really cool that scientist find the area where they bred. It will help them for the growth of bird. However it is scary if Hunter find these area. Just like if you find your hidden wealth yourself you feel happy and if the same hidden found by your wife. You will feel yourself in trouble :p
75 years of conservation and we got only around 116 breeding pairs...
And just imagined how quickly they went extinct from 500,000 in just 20 years..
This clearly indicates the fact that how difficult it is to restore the natural balance once it has been disturbed..
Yeah, it's a lot quicker to destroy the population than it is to rebuild it. But they are really slow breeders obviously, so 117 pairs is not that bad. But it will take a very long time before we get back to 500,000 (and sadly I don't think they will ever reach that number unless humans go extinct).
Sorry 117 pairs to be exact!
Hehe, no worries :)
This is a very interesting post. It has lead me to do some more research into this and the small production numbers is mainly due to the slow reproduction. Cahows only mate once a year and incubation periods are approximately 51 days. Another thing is, this endangered species which lives on the small islets where there isn't much soil, making it difficult to burrow. They will also be further affected by the erosion due to rises in sea levels and global warming. Just a little thing I learnt after reading this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for adding some extra information about them!
Yeah, the slow recovery has a lot to do with the fact that it takes a really long time for them to grow in population size. The conservationists on the islands are currently making "fake burrows" for them, since as you mention, making a natural burrow is a lot more difficult these days.
From the eradication rate and conservation rate , it is clear how easy it is to destroy and how difficult it's to protect.
Though it is really cool that it received the attention and was protected.
Yeah, that's a good point. We killed almost half a million in under 20 years, and then spent another 75 years to get the number of breeding pairs from 18 to 117.
Humans are very selfish.
Guess we haven't evolved as much as we'd thought
Indeed we are. Actually, evolution often favors those who are selfish, so evolving might not have anything to do about caring for others.
Hope it is not the only extinct animal to pull a reappearing act. Interesting and optimistic read, resteemed.
I agree; it would be extremely cool if we found another "extinct" animal in the future. And thank you very much for the resteem!
Very cool that these birds, once thought to be gone from the earth, and still thriving and reproducing.
It saddens me when I hear about certain species being extinct or on the brink of extinction. I hope they have a bright future and are able to live on for years to come.
Here's to a healthy and happy Earth!
Yeah, it's a really cool story!
why did they destroy the bermuda petrel ?
very in pity when the bird is very beautiful and cute, but thank goodness the government on the island now protect it. thanks for sharing
Because the imported animals killed the chicks and ate the eggs, and the humans killed the grown-ups to get an easy meal.
I like about your post, thank you
I'm glad you liked it :D
20 years to eradicate 500,000 birds, that should be an all time high. Humans and their effect on their environment.
They are beautiful birds, thanks to these peeps "Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray" and the conservation programme they're still in existence.
Nice post @valth.
We humans are extremely efficient at destroying animal populations, sadly :(
I'm glad you liked the post!
well @valth before reading this post i was just known about Bermuda triangle 😛😛. but please to know about Bermuda petrel and more and more pleased to know that they reappear although they were extinct.
@valth you have shown us the photograph of rat i never ever see such type of rat before😨😨.and as i see Bermuda petrels are birds then how this rat hunted them 😨😨. big hands for Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S. Mowbray😍
Hehe, yeah, most people only know about the Bermuda triangle without knowing much about the Bermuda islands at all. Luckily these birds did not go extinct at all, but rather a few ones were able to hide away from humans. I bet they would be been hunted down if they hadn't been such good hiders :P
What? Where did I post a photo about a rat? :)
oops i'm so sorry it was my😰😥 mistake that photograph is petrels chick once again sorry 😰😨😥
Glad to see you @valth
In the last picture, The Bermuda petrel chick is very Beautiful.
And Thanks for sharing such valuable information with us about these birds. . .
stay Blessed
Yeah, the chicks are really cute!
I'm glad you liked the post :)
nice,good post 😊
Thanks.
Informative and helpful post to read.great post
I'm glad you liked it :)