Wisdom the Albatross, Oldest Bird in the World, Lays an Egg!
The day will come when the albatross named Wisdom, the oldest wild bird in the world (by a staggering amount) no longer completes her annual migration to Midway Atoll, never again takes a mate, builds a nest, or starts a family. Today is not that day.
The 74-ish-year-old bird is back at it. The septuagenarian albatross was spotted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Midway breeding gourds – a national wildlife refuge in the middle of the Pacific – with a new, much younger mate by her side and, incredibly, a new egg for the nest.
“SHE DID IT AGAIN!” kvelled the USFWS on X. “At an approximate age of 74, the queen of seabirds returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge last week and began interacting with a male.”
When Wisdom was tagged by a US Geological Survey researcher way back in 1956, she was reckoned to be at least five years old. Her band number “Z333” has been spotted by researchers ever since, year after year after year. The next-oldest living bird known to the biologists is a mere 45, a piker compared to Wisdom.
The Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) tends to mate for life, but Wisdom continues to outlive her husbands. One longtime mate named Akeakamai (Hawaiian for “lover of wisdom”) left the scene a few mating seasons ago. Soon enough, the old girl was seen canoodling with other suitors in mating dances.
When we last checked in on Wisdom, she was still looking for love. Apparently she found it.
Photo credit: USFWS via X
