Government Conservation Officer David Wingate yesterday warned against testing windmills on Cooper's Island because it could threaten the Island's world-famous cahow population with extinction.

Dr. Wingate said 56 pairs of cahows nest on islands as close as 200 metres to Cooper's Island and fly over it at night.

The Environment Ministry supports a research project to look at the feasibility of having energy saving wind-powered turbines offshore, but it has been suggested that testing must first be done at an on-shore site.

But Dr. Wingate said it would be a grave gamble to test the windmills on Cooper's Island because they could endanger the cahows.

He said he was extremely concerned after hearing that the testing could be done on Cooper's Island.

He spoke out at the three-day international conference on alternative technologies for Bermuda and other small islands held at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research.

He told The Royal Gazette afterward: "Cahows are nocturnal and tend to be more vulnerable to man-made hazards.

"Because it is an endangered species, and because of the extreme proximity of the entire population, it will probably be a deciding factor against using that site because they could not guarantee they would be protected from extinction.

"The population has grown from 18 nesting pairs in the 1950s to 56 today. It is one of the few conservation success stories in the world and it would be tragic to turn it around through not considering environmental hazards.

"The cahows were thought to be extinct and they are like the dodos that were re-discovered.

"They do fly over the headland at night, so it is not a potential risk, it is a real risk that will have to be taken into consideration.'' Dr. Wingate said when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was on Cooper's Island from 1967 to last year, it modified its equipment because of environmental concerns about the cahow.

"They complied because of environmental concerns, so we should continue to take the issue very seriously,'' he said.

Dr. Wingate said an ideal site for on-shore testing of the windmills would be Daniel's Head.