‘Citizen science’ reveals cahow secrets

The new Cahow Cams that are capturing never-before-seen footage of chicks in their underground burrows have already far exceeded expectations, according to their designer J-P Rouja of LookBermuda.

On the first day of testing the cameras on Nonsuch Island just a few weeks ago, he was able to film a cahow chick hatching — a first for Bermuda’s national bird.

The video streaming HD cameras will enable birders, conservationists, school groups and the wider public both
locally and internationally, instant access, in real time, to these critically-endangered seabirds. 

But it was no mean feat getting the ideal camera for the job — Mr Rouja has spent the past two years experimenting with different options before modifying GoPro cameras to be infrared sensitive so that they could film in complete darkness and not disturb the birds. This allowed them to be seen displaying their natural behaviour away from the disturbance of humans. He had to wait for the technology to catch up with what he wanted to do. The system uses the customised miniature infrared sensitive HD cameras with military grade invisible infrared lights and uses the latest video streaming and wireless technologies to stream live video from the islands to the Internet.

Mr Rouja told the Bermuda Sun: “I had to become a citizen scientist to do this. We were already working on a film to document the cahow project and during that process we were challenged with how to film the chicks in the burrows without disturbing them. We found there was no way of doing so. The only gear that we could get was too massive or had limited run time or you were disturbing them with the lights. 

“Back then, I said, as soon as the technology becomes available then we will try to find a way to do this in a more miniature and unobtrusive way. The cameras we are now using are of a small enough form factor — we had to void the warranty and take them apart and modify them to do what we wanted them to do.

“The guts were there — they had a decent quality HD sensor, and, after modification, could run 24/7, see infrared and have motion detection all lit by our custom invisible IR led lights. I taught myself how to build these things and we can now go have gone where filmmakers have never been able to go before.”

The plan is to install up to five more cameras in other cahow nests within the next few months.

Jeremy Madeiros of Conservation Services’ Cahow Recovery Project said he has been overjoyed to be able to see cahow chicks displaying behaviours he never knew they performed. The chicks have been seen exercising their wings at just a week old as well as building up their nests and it is hoped more information will emerge about the suspected semi-symbiotic relationship between skinks and cahows.

Practical benefits

As well as allowing the Cahow Recovery Project team to see new behaviours, the cams also have practical benefits allowing conservationists to keep an eye on the birds when access to Nonsuch is restricted by stormy conditions.

“In a stormy winter like we have had this year there have been days and weeks it hasn’t been safe for me to come out here so it has hamstrung me,” said Mr Madeiros. 

“With this system I will be able to check everything is going fine and see if the parents visit during those gales.”

The Cahow Cam Project is a public/private venture between the Department of Conservation Services, the Ascendent Group, LookBermuda/LookFilms and Northrock Communications. All the cameras will be powered by solar energy which has been sponsored by Ascendant Group as part of a ten-year, $500k partnership between Ascendant and the Department of Conservation
Services.

President and CEO of the Ascendant Group Walter Higgins said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for scientists, as well as for students, birding enthusiasts and all who care about Bermuda’s unique natural heritage. In fact, we hope that the Cahow Cams will capture the imaginations of people outside of Bermuda, who may become interested in visiting the
island.”

Pre-recorded clips are now available online at blog.lookbermuda.com/CahowCam. Anyone who is interested can register to “follow” the LiveStream module on the site to receive alerts whenever new footage goes online including the streaming footage which will be available in the next few months.