Two resident masked boobies (Sula dactylatra) of the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park (TRNP) and World Heritage Site have been given Filipino names, the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) announced in a Facebook post on July 15.
Male masked booby 446 is now called “Alon” (Wave), while female masked booby 256 was named “Amihan” (East wind).
Netizens have chosen these names for the pair through an online poll launched by the TMO.
Previously, the TMO called these birds based on the number of their ring bands.
Earlier this month, the pair was able to produce their first hatchling, the first islet-born masked booby, after a series of failed attempts to hatch a masked booby chick.
The TMO named the hatchling “Roxana,” named after Mexican Dr. Roxana Torres, who advised the TMO on what interventions the office had to make in order for the pair to produce a hatchling.
In 2016, a lone masked booby was found nesting at the Bird’s Islet after 20 years of being out of sight.
Since then, experts from the TMO have been doing their best to be able to produce a hatchling to regenerate the mask booby population in the marine park.
