Excitement was in the air on Nonsuch Island yesterday when a team from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo released a baby longtail to make its first flight over open waters.

Patrick Talbot, a curator at BAMZ, led the team that included Roma Hayward, animal care and quarantine officer, to the island to release the baby bird, which had been under the care of the animal and quarantine unit of the zoo for two weeks.

Also known as the white-tailed tropicbird, the longtail is an open-ocean species.

Ms Hayward, who was accompanied by several interns, ascended the slopes of the island and carefully ventured to the edge of a cliff with the bird in hand while Mr Talbot and a marine team looked on from a boat below.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, the bird made a valiant leap out of Ms Hayward’s hands and flew north of the island in the direction of the Causeway.

Simultaneously, Mr Talbot and team sped off to ensure that the bird had climbed safely to a high altitude.

The team spent another 20 minutes below the bird as the curator gave a few updates on its progress in the sky by radio.

He radioed in to Ms Hayward: “It’s still flying fairly strong, but it’s still probably low, about 30 feet above the water.”

Minutes later, after another update, the team on the boat discontinued watch and headed to shore at Nonsuch Island.

Mr Talbot said he was hopeful that the bird climbed to at least 100 feet before flying south.

According to Ms Hayward, the bird was expected to fly against the wind “to get lift” to gain altitude and make its flight to the open seas.

Before the bird’s flight, she said she wanted to position her hands at certain angles for it to take off.

She explained: “The wind is coming from behind us today, which is a little to our disadvantage. So, I need to angle him to ensure he can fly south to the horizon and open water.”

She told The Royal Gazette that all the necessary tests were carried out on the bird before it was released.

She said: “We were able to do all the diagnostics, the full blood work just as if you went to the doctor.”

Back at BAMZ, she said there are four longtail chicks that the staff have been caring for, one of which may be released in another four to six weeks.

In addition, she said another chick that was found in a nest along a City street several weeks ago was under the care of the staff. However, the chick did not survive.

Ms Hayward said: “We were nursing him; we were giving him three feeds per day and we started to realise developmentally that he was behind everybody else.”

She added: “He wasn’t gaining the weight and growing the wings like the others so he was probably about two weeks behind developmentally and then he just didn’t make it through one night.”

Ms Hayward said the passing of the bird was “unfortunate because we spent six weeks caring for him but it is not always a positive ending, unfortunately”.

To this end, she said, rehabilitation of the animals can be “rewarding when you are assisting them as much as you can. We are trying to give them as much as we can in order to get them back out there”.

Ms Hayward said the longtails would begin appearing in the spring “and get rather busy with fledgelings and half-fledged birds in July and August”.

She added: “A longtail can be in our care anywhere from a couple of days to 12 weeks, depending on how young they are when we receive them.

“We can be doing releases almost weekly from now until October, depending on their life stage.

“If we are affected by passing hurricanes, we will often see an increase in birds brought in to our Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.”

She noted that during the fall and winter “we will see other types of birds that come to the island during their migration”.

Meanwhile, Ms Hayward said, BAMZ appreciates the role the public play in its conservation efforts.

She said: “Whether it be birds or turtles, getting wild animals to BAMZ or calling us to respond gives the animal the care it needs when they are found in distress.”

She said the staff is able to assess and provide critical care, which sometimes requires veterinary exams, fluid therapy, pain relief, diagnostic imaging, laboratory work or surgery.

Mr Talbot said that last July BAMZ staff did a combined total of 94 hours working with wildlife rehabilitation.

He said: “When you look at work hours that’s almost half the month.”

As regards training, Ms Hayward said junior staff and interns, who are a part of the Animal Care and Quarantine section at BAMZ, often receive hands-on experience with husbandry and medical care of wildlife as well as marine and zoo animals.

She added: “This provides insight to the care and wellbeing of the animals as well as the importance of conservation and the role we play.”