The cahow conservation programme on Nonsuch Island has been featured in the cover story of America’s national Audubon magazine.

The winter edition of the magazine included an article on the birds written by Jessica Bruder, whose book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century was adapted into this year’s triple Oscar-winning movie Nomadland.

The magazine article documented the activities of Jeremy Madeiros, the senior terrestrial conservation officer who leads the cahow translocation project, and the history of the original cahow recovery programme started by his predecessor, David Wingate.

The article is illustrated with photographs by Jean-Pierre Rouja who founded Nonsuch Expeditions, an organisation set up to document the project.

Nonsuch Expeditions also created the infrared live stream CahowCam, which can film the birds in their underground burrows.

Mr Madeiros said: "It was an honour for the cahow recovery programme to be selected for this feature as the Audubon magazine is one of the larger environmentally themed publications in the United States.

“With over 400,000 readers, it goes a long way towards fulfilling the programme's objective of public outreach and education, as do the live-stream CahowCams, both for Bermudians and for international audiences.”

Mr Madeiros added: “I would also like to acknowledge other staff at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, especially conservation officer Peter Drew and the terrestrial conservation crew, led by foreman Kiwon Furbert, that have carried out much work with the recovery programme, and been instrumental in enabling Bermuda's unique national bird to continue its inspiring recovery.”

Mr Rouja said that the article featured screen grabs from the CahowCams and that he looked forward to US Audubon members logging on to the cameras to watch the return of cahow pairs to lay their single egg in early January.

His photo of a cahow named Poppy was chosen as the cover photo for the magazine.

Mr Rouja said: “Having one of my photos used for the cover was already amazing. However, the fact that the subject they selected was Poppy, our 2021 CahowCam 2 star, made it all the more iconic.

“Its parents were both translocated to, and then fledged from, Nonsuch translocation colony A in 2005.

“They first returned in 2009 and produced their first egg in 2010, since when they have produced a single egg each year for 12 years.

“From these, they have successfully fledged ten chicks, making them one of the most successful pairs in the colony.“

An online version of the article can be found here.

The CahowCams can be watched live here.