Brown Booby A0703 free to fly again in Tubbataha
Today, the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) will release a captured seabird back to its home – in the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.
On 9 March, TMO received a report from CPL Charlie Jay B Luban PN(M) of the 34th Marine Company Battalion of a rescued seabird he and his colleagues found in the shoreline of Bgy. Langogan, Puerto Princesa.
The seabird was identified to be a Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), one of the six species of seabirds that breeds in Tubbataha. It has a metal tag on its right leg bearing a number, this one A0703, and address which identifies it as a Tubbataha resident bird. TMO records revealed that the said seabird is an eight-year old Booby tagged in 2008. TMO started tagging the seabirds in 2006 to help monitor their growth and movement.
The seabird was turned over to the composite team of Palawan Marine Wildlife Rescue Society for assessment on 11 March. The seabird may have gotten lost as it foraged for food in the Sulu Sea. The Society turned over the seabird to TMO for release in Tubbataha.
Tubbataha is one of very few seabird habitats in the Philippines. It hosts the largest known population of Brown Boobies in the country. Last year, Tubbataha Reefs became one of the three Flyway Network Sites in the Philippines declared by the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP), a network established for the conservation of seabirds in the region.
Seabirds are biological indicators of the health of our ocean. Their loss means something is wrong with the environment. You can help conserve seabirds by reporting any sightings or recovery of seabirds with numbered metal or white plastic rings. Please send us the following information:
- number of the band
- time and place of sighting or recovery
- your name and address
To report seabird sightings, please contact:
Tubbataha Management Office
Tel No: (48) 434 5759
Email: [email protected]
Facebook fanpage: Friends of Tubbataha
Brown Booby A0703 arrived in Tubbataha this morning. He is once again free to fly in Tubbataha. Let us hope he does not lose his way again.