Environmentalists are celebrating a major triumph after the hatching of "Somers" the first Cahow chick born on Nonsuch Island in around 400 years.

The news, announced by the Department of Conservation Services yesterday, is the latest chapter in a long-running effort to save the critically-endangered sea bird from extinction.

Glenn Blakeney, Minister of the Environment and Sports, said: "The birth of this Cahow chick is an extraordinary achievement for those who have dedicated their lives to saving this rare bird from the brink of extinction. I, and indeed everyone in Bermuda and the worldwide Audubon community, should celebrate this environmental success story. And to be born in the year of Bermuda's 400th anniversary is beyond what anyone could have hoped for."

According to conservation officer Jeremy Madeiros, who's overseen the Cahow Recovery Programme for nine years, the chick was named Somers in honour of Sir George Somers whose fateful shipwreck marked the beginning of the permanent settlement of Bermuda.

Its gender will not be known until he or she reaches three months old. However, the chick is being monitored daily and is gaining weight and growing well. Somers' parents are taking it in turns with feeding duties and will fly hundreds of miles or more in a round trip to catch squid, krill and small anchovies to bring back to the nest.

Somers is expected to be ready to take flight and leave the island within eight to nine weeks. The bird will then spend three to four years at sea before returning to the exact spot on Nonsuch from where it left to begin building a nest and looking for a mate. Within five years, Somers should be ready to start a family from the safety and security of Nonsuch Island.

The chick's birth marks a triumph in a long saga involving the Cahow, which was at one point believed to be extinct, having not been seen since the 1620s. In the 1950s it was "rediscovered" with 17 nesting pairs found on several rocky islands in the east end of Bermuda.

Since there is not enough soil on most of the nesting islands for the Cahow to burrow in, 100 artificial concrete burrows were constructed and almost three quarters of all Cahows now nest in this 'Government housing.'

According to Dr. Madeiros, the birds remain under threat from hurricanes and sea-level rise. Recent hurricanes have severely eroded the islands and destroyed nest burrows. Rising sea level is also causing more flooding of nests on the low-lying outcrops.

Nonsuch Island has not had any nesting Cahows since the 1620s as it has long been used by man, and had rats and other domestic animals which would kill the chicks. However, since restoration as a 'living museum' Nonsuch has had all the predatory animals removed and now closely resembles the habitat the early settlers described the Cahow as nesting in.

Dr. Madeiros said the island has the potential to support far more Cahows than would ever be possible on the present eroding nesting islets, and has enough soil for them to dig their own burrows. One aspect of the Cahow Recovery Programme involved establishing breeding pairs of the birds on Nonsuch Island which is much less vulnerable to storms and rising sea levels.

"Between 2004 and 2008 a total of 105 Cahow chicks were moved, or translocated from the tiny nesting islets to Nonsuch Island when they were two-thirds grown. Here they were fed squid and fish, fitted with tags and monitored until they flew to sea and 102 chicks successfully fledged to sea," he explained. "In 2008 the first of these now fully grown Cahows returned to nest burrows on Nonsuch having spent the first years of their life living far out in the ocean. Four Cahows, identified as leaving from Nonsuch in 2005, were recaptured prospecting new nests. "In 2009 the first breeding pairs of Cahows began preparing burrows on Nonsuch with at least seven pairs of translocated chicks from 2005 and 2006 identified."

And although Cahows usually do not produce their first chicks until they have nested for about two years, the hatching of Somers on March 23 came ahead of schedule, and made him the first chick to be hatched there in almost 400 years.

Dr. Madeiros said of the news: "Quite simply I am thrilled. Over the moon! I never expected that we would see a nesting pair produce a chick so soon. While the translocation plan seemed simple in theory, it was difficult to carry out and we were never quite sure it would be successful — until now.

"I'm hopeful that next year we will see more chicks born on Nonsuch and we will then truly have secured a major victory in ensuring the future survival of this most extraordinary bird.

"This project has only been possible through the assistance of Australian seabird researcher Nicholas Carlile and the support of Jack Ward and a number of staff from the Department of Conservation Services and volunteers who have assisted me in monitoring, moving and feeding Cahow chicks over the last five years. My wife, Leila and family have also been incredibly supportive during this long process."

World renowned conservationist and former Government conservation officer David Wingate was involved in the Cahow Recovery Programme beginning in the 1950s and has dedicated much of his life to saving the Cahow. He said of the hatching of Somers: "I cannot think of a more perfect success story appropriate to the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Bermuda as the Cahow practically saved the early settlers but then they almost became extinct because of them."

FACTFILE

• The Cahow is Bermuda's national bird and is one of the few birds which are completely unique to Bermuda, nesting nowhere else on earth. It is also one of the rarest seabirds on earth, with less than 100 nesting pairs.

• Cahows live almost all of their lives out on the open ocean, hundreds of miles from land, returning to land only to breed. They return to Bermuda every November to start courtship and nest-building.

• The eggs are laid in January, and take 53 days to hatch; the downy chick hatches in late February to early March, and flies out to sea by late May to early June. The chick will not touch land again until three to four years later when they return to their point of departure to find their own nest burrow.

• Each nesting pair of Cahows can produce only one egg a year; about 55 percent of eggs hatch to produce a downy chick, which takes over 3 months to mature and fly out to sea.

• Cahows nest in deep rock or soil burrows that have to be long enough to be totally dark at the end; almost 70 percent of Cahows now nest in artificial concrete burrows built for them on the nesting islands.

• Cahows are long-lived and may reach over 40 years in age. Nesting pairs usually use the same burrows for many years. They are faithful partners, with the same pairs staying together for many years, and possibly their entire breeding lifespan.

• The Cahow is entirely nocturnal on land, returning to their nesting burrows only on dark nights; even the full moon can prevent them from approaching the nesting islands.