Hundreds of people were able to watch the hatching of a cahow chick on Nonsuch Island through a streaming live feed this weekend.

According to Jeremy Madeiros, senior terrestrial conservation officer at the Department of Conservation, the first stages of hatching were spotted on the “CahowCam” on Thursday morning.

The prolonged hatching process continued until shortly after 1am on Sunday, when the cahow chick successfully emerged from its shell.

In the subsequent hours, the chick could be heard chirping loudly as its mother gently preened it.

“It is still not completely safe, as a very small percentage of chicks become so exhausted by the hatching process that they succumb within the first hours after entering the world,” Mr Madeiros said.

“However, this chick appears to have plenty of energy, so things look very good at this point.

“Incidentally, this chick makes it the 23rd that I have confirmed as having hatched so far in total on all five of the tiny nesting colonies by Saturday evening, including the fourth on Nonsuch Island.”

In the coming months the chick will grow, lose its “grey puffball” appearance and eventually take to the sea, where it will remain for the next three to six years before hopefully returning to the island to find a mate of its own.

The cahow, or Bermuda petrel, were believed to be extinct for several centuries before they were famously rediscovered in 1951.

Since then, efforts have been made to save the species, including recently translocating birds from the rocky isles where they have nested to artificial burrows on the Nonsuch Island Nature Reserve.

The programme has so far been largely successful, increasing the population from just 18 nesting pairs, producing just eight fledglings a year, to 112 nesting pairs who successfully hatch more than 50 chicks a year.

In 2014, the conservation team installed a camera in one of the Nonsuch Island nests, allowing researchers — and the public at large — to observe the birds’ nesting habits.