Wisdom, the World's Oldest Known Wild Bird, Returns to Midway Atoll

[Donkees]

Photo by Keegan Rankin, USFWS KUPU intern.

December 11, 2022 - Wisdom, the world’s oldest known wild bird, recently returned to Midway Atoll! The beloved Laysan albatross, or mōlī, is at least 71 years old now. Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg, and the large seabirds aren’t known to breed before age 5. It is estimated that Wisdom has produced 50-60 eggs and as many as 30 chicks that fledged, according to Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The ageless Wisdom, with her well-known band number of Z333, was first spotted this nesting season on Thanksgiving Day. Her long-time mate, Akeakamai, has yet to be seen and was absent last nesting season, too. Male albatrosses typically return to the breeding site before their mates, wrote Plissner in an email.

For decades, Wisdom and Akeakamai, like most pairs of mōlī, returned every year to the same nest site to lay one egg.
They are among the millions of albatross that return to Midway Atoll on the far northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago to nest and raise their young.

https://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/42304-wisdom-the-world-s-oldest-known-wild-bird-returns-to-midway-atoll

“Wisdom continues to help us better understand how long these birds live and how often they breed. It is incredible to know that Wisdom is surrounded by generations of her family at Midway Atoll” said Pam Repp, Refuge Manager for Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial. “It is thanks to bird banding that we know Wisdom is at least 70 years old and where her family members spend the winter at Midway Atoll”.

[Trueblue1968]

1. smiling looking at this lovely bird

[Karadeniz]

2. We're about the same age and she has held up WAAAYYYY better!

[70sEraVet]

3. I always thought parrots had the longest lifespans of birds.

[Donkees]

4. 'She is the oldest confirmed wild bird in the world as well as the oldest banded bird in the world.'

Birds in captivity (zoos) may have been older, but she is wild and banded (?)