Lovers of Bermuda’s iconic Longtail can now watch a chick being raised by its parents in a nest on Nonsuch Island thanks to modern technology.

Following on the wildly popular cahow cam, the longtail cam is a livestream of a chick hatched on April 24.

Formally known as the Whitetail Tropicbird, there are 3,500 nesting pairs of Longtails in Bermuda and Nonsuch Island hosts 70 artificial nests to replace natural caves which have been destroyed in hurricanes. One is fitted with a camera so people can watch the development of the chick from a fluffy fledgling into maturity.

The Longtail cam, now in its fourth year, is a a collaboration between the Nonsuch Expeditions, the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The livestream will appear black at night as this Cam does not operate with infrared lights and Tropicbirds only sleep at night. Users can scroll back in the timeline to view daylight portions.

This year’s chick had its first health check on Thursday, which is shown in the video above.

https://youtu.be/cTocuue-8TM

A statement from Nonsuch Expeditions said Longtails generally stay with their chick off and on for the first few weeks to protect it from predators and other prospecting Tropicbirds that are know to kill young chicks in an attempt to take over the nest.

“Accordingly viewers will see the parents coming in and out during the day, though they usually leave the chick alone just before sunrise to go out to sea to feed,” the statement said.

Learn More and watch the Live Stream video here: http://www.nonsuchisland.com/live-tropicbird-cam