Cooper's Island Nature Reserve was created by the Bermuda Government after the US military vacated this facility in the late 1990s. this area had been under US military control since the early 1940s, when it was an Army Air Corps base. later it became Kenly Field Air Force Base, then passed to the United States Navy. NASA built a tracking station for the American space program in 1960s here, and as recently as the mid-1990s this area was used to track American space shuttle flights.
Today, birds of all kinds can be seen and enjoyed from a burning tower that has been built out near the old NASA tracking facility. old military base roads are now nice paved hiking and biking and walking trails which afford beautiful views of Castle Harbour the Atlantic Ocean and the island of Bermuda.
Birdwatchers are especially welcome. A birding tower has been built at the end of the reserve near Long Bay.
The day Blasterz were there, we saw great white egrets, Sanderlings, Kiskadees, sparrows, and some small yellow songbirds that went by so fast we couldn't identify them.
Cooper's island reserve is a protected breeding area for the critically endangered Bermuda Petrel, also called the Cahow.
From the BirdLife website: (
visit link)
"Site description
Cooper's Island and the adjacent Castle Islands Nature Reserve are situated at the east end of Bermuda in St. George's Parish. Cooper's IslandCooper's Island is located on the eastern side of Castle Harbour and juts out into the centre of the Castle Islands. Its general alignment is from northwest to southeast. The rock type is limestone.
It was a separate island of 31.4 ha until 1943 when it was connected to St. David's Island by dredged fill during the construction of the US Air Force base, now the international airport.
Prior to its connection with St David's Island, Cooper's Island was one of Bermuda's largest offshore satellite islands and the most isolated and ecologically diverse. Even today it retains most of this diversity and ecological importance because the military and NASA installations have not altered the contours significantly and the superb beaches and coastline remain.
Currently, the island is part nature reserve, part National Parkland and part former NASA Tracking Station lands, which were recently handed back to the Bermuda Government in 2002 with the closure of that station.
The reserve and its associated Clearwater Beach National Park are currently of great importance for both recreation and public understanding of the environment. Local people enjoy hiking through one of the last remaining wild and open spaces on the islands. There is potential to convert the NASA land and buildings to a National Park and/or Nature Reserve, resulting in the creation of significant educational and visitor facilities, with associated cultural, environmental and socio-economic benefits.
. . . .
The Castle Islands Nature Reserve is notable for supporting a diverse range of marine and coastal habitats, including rocky coastal, sandy beach/dune, coral reefs (including boiler and patch reefs), sand flats and sea grass beds. There is some consideration to declare the waters around the Castle Harbour Islands as a marine nature reserve.
Key Biodiversity The Castle Islands Nature Reserve is Bermuda's most important area for nesting seabirds. The entire world population of the critically endangered Cahow or Bermuda Petrel breeds on four islets within the reserve.
In addition, the reserve is the main breeding habitat for 40-45% of Bermuda's population of White-tailed Tropicbird (local name Longtail), representing up to 700 breeding pairs. There are also a small number of Common Terns (2-6 pairs) which nest on two of the smaller islets just west of Nonsuch Island.
The endemic race of the White-eyed Vireo is found on Nonsuch and Castle Islands, which have the heavier vegetative cover which this species favours. The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, was re-introduced to Bermuda on Nonsuch Island in the late 1970's. Approximately 25 pairs now nest on Nonsuch and up to 6 pairs on Grasbury's Island on the east side of Cooper's Island."