Rare bird species nests off Boracay

The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) of Aklan has found a nesting ground of a rare bird off the Tambisaan Port here.
Heherson T. Alvarez, a forester for PENRO, said they have identified the rare bird species as pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagius).
The sea cormorant species can be found in the coasts from the eastern part of North Asia to the northern part of East Asia, Alvarez said.
What tourists commonly see as a small rock formation off Tambisaan is actually the nesting ground of the rare bird species.
“PENRO is currently conducting a study on this new find,” Alvarez said. “Tambisaan Port may have been the nesting ground of such bird many years ago.”
The Malay municipal government uses the Tambisaan Port as an entry and exit point for tourists bound for Boracay during the habagat season. The original entry and exit point is the Caticlan Jetty Port.
EVOLUTION
With this discovery, Alvarez expressed concern on the possible alteration of biodiversities in the island resort and the mainland Malay once planned infrastructure developments in the locality take shape.
The municipal government plans to construct a bridge that will connect the world-famous island to the mainland.
“The biodiversity of Boracay is entirely different from that of mainland Malay,” Alvarez said.
For example, rat species, among others, in Boracay are mostly white while those in the mainland are commonly black, said the forester.
While putting up the bridge is technically all right, it will allow species to cross over from Boracay to mainland Malay and vice versa, he said.
“This process will surely [lead to] an evolution of the species,” he stressed. “We do not know yet how they will evolve.”
Alvarez also said Boracay is richer in terms of food sources compared to mainland Malay — hinting of a possible migration of species from the mainland to the island resort./