If you had to choose one location where you might have a chance to encounter multiple rare species in one day in the ABA Area, your choice should be the pelagic waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, in late May. On a May 29th pelagic trip to the Gulf Stream, three ABA Code-3 endangered Bermuda Petrels (Pterodroma cahow) were seen, in addition to an ABA Code-3 Fea's Petrel (Pterodroma feae), and ABA Code-3 Trindade Petrel (Pterodroma arminjoniana), and an ABA Code-4 European Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus).
Bermuda Petrel is often called by its species name, cahow, for the vocalization it makes. Early sailors thought the sounds they made came instead from devils and refused to colonize the area. Bermuda Petrel is the national bird of Bermuda and more importantly offers a lesson in hope for imperiled seabirds worldwide. Although thought to be extinct for 330 years, in 1951, 18 surviving pairs were discovered on rocky islets off Bermuda. A program to reestablished this species was begun by Dr. David Wingate. Removing predators, Dr. Wingate then built concrete burrows whose dimensions excluded slightly larger species. The result is an example of one of the best success stories in avian conservation.
Bermuda Petrels once numbered in the tens of thousands before Spanish explorers discovered the islands. Although the Spanish never settled here, they did leave pigs and over the next 100 years the pigs destroyed almost 90 percent of the existing petrel population, rooting in the burrows and eating the petrel eggs and chicks. In 1609, the English settled Bermuda. By then Bermuda Petrels were restricted to the remote islands. Rats and cats destroyed most of the remaining population, so by the 1620s Bermuda Petrel was thought to be extinct.
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