After several weeks of running our naming competition for the albatross on Bird Island and receiving over 200 entries, we have come to some final decisions on the names for four of our albatross stars! We want to thank everyone for your brilliant suggestions – it was very difficult to pick the winners with so many creative and imaginative ideas.
And without further ado, here are our winners. We are very excited to have chosen “Amelia” and “Atlas” for the wandering albatross parents! Amelia is named after Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932 - very apt for a bird which spends months on end on the wing. Congratulations to Pam Murray and Lindy Schneider for choosing this name! We loved the name Atlas, after the Ancient Greek titan who holds the world in his hands, for our wanderer Dad who frequently circumnavigates the globe. Well done to Olive Andrews and Paula Redmond who both suggested this name!
For our grey-headed Dad we have chosen the name Skylander, which we thought was perfect for the adrenaline junkie speedster who soars through the skies. This name was suggested by class 5/6 at Castletown Primary School in Scotland. We have decided to name his little chick Bobby, which was chosen by St Nicholas School, Kenilworth (Warwickshire). Thanks to both schools for getting involved, and well done!
Although these names won us over, we would love to highlight some of the other brilliant suggestions we received. Other great entries for the wandering couple included Odysseus and Penelope, Nemo and Dory, and Juno and Destiny. Some great ones we had for the grey-headed Dad include Mithrandir (meaning grey wanderer in “Lord of the Rings”), Coleridge (named after the writer of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”), and Apollo. For the chick we loved Beaky Blinders, Ash and ātaahua (Maori for “beautiful”).
It was very difficult to choose our winners, but we have loved going through all the suggestions and the reasons behind them. A big thanks to everyone who got involved in the competition, and keep your eyes peeled for more to come on #AlbatrossStories!
Photos by Derren Fox
This project is funded by Darwin Plus, and the South Georgia Heritage Trust.