Wailangilala is home to a few hundred red-footed boobies, a few hundred noddies (most common in Fr Poly, but rare here), some white terns and–much to our suprise and delight–about 20 couples of brown boobies! Those ground-nesting birds have become a rare sight, even though according to our Wikipeda they are listed as “least concern”–makes you wonder when somebody bothered to count last… It’s wonderful to wake up a chorus of roaring boobies and chirping terns, we haven’t seen that many birds in a long time! We also found turtle tracks up the beach and the nests above the tide line.
The island is private, the previous owner only built 8 houses here, planned to have a resort, but never finished the building site and the island was left alone again (only a care-taker family lives here). On the weekend a real estate agent came by–the island is for sale and he wanted to see the property before listing it. A film crew will come soon to do a promotional video. He claimed that there are strict environmental stipulations about the use, but we are still very worried about this bird paradise. The island is a (comparative) bargain, we wished we could buy it for the birds…
2 comments
Cajucito says:
December 19, 2022 at 6:58 am (UTC 0)
Hello Birgit,
Bill is asking how much is the island.
Christian says:
December 26, 2022 at 1:52 am (UTC 0)
Just 3 million USD, a real bargain for an island that size