At 74, World’s Oldest Bird Lays Another Egg

Midway Atoll —(Map)

The world’s oldest known wild bird is an albatross named Wisdom. She’s around 74 years old, and has recently returned to her nesting place in the Midway Atoll. Wisdom may be old, but she’s still active. She has just laid her first egg in four years.

The Midway Atoll is made of two small islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between the US and Asia. The island is home to about 3 million seabirds, who return there every year to mate, lay their eggs, and raise their chicks.

About 1.3 million of these birds are Laysan albatrosses like Wisdom. Albatrosses are huge birds that spend much of their life at sea. With their wings spread out, albatrosses measure around 6.5 feet (2 meters) from wingtip to wingtip.

Midway is an important place for albatrosses, and an important place for scientists who want to study them. One of the ways scientists can study birds is by banding them. Putting a small numbered band on the leg of a bird helps scientists tell which bird is which. It also makes it easier to keep track of what happens among the birds. Over 275,000 albatrosses have been banded on Midway since 1936.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956. Her band number is Z333. At the time, scientists believed she was about 5 years old, since that’s the youngest that albatrosses can lay eggs. Most Laysan albatrosses only live for 12 to 40 years. But at 74 years old, Wisdom has lived so long that her band has had to be changed six times.

When albatrosses choose a partner, they remain partners for life. But Wisdom’s extreme age means that she has out-lived several partners. For many years Wisdom’s partner was a bird called Akeakamai. But Akeakamai hasn’t been seen for several years.

This year, Wisdom has found a new partner. What’s more, on November 26, Wisdom laid another egg. Because raising a chick requires so much time and energy, many albatrosses lay eggs every other year.

But until recently, Wisdom had a streak of laying eggs for several years in a row. Scientists say Wisdom has laid 50 to 60 eggs in her lifetime. And about 30 to 36 of those eggs have hatched. Her last chick hatched in 2021, when Wisdom was 70 years old.

Wisdom and her new partner are taking turns sitting on the egg. If the egg hatches, which could happen in February, they will take turns caring for the chick and flying out to sea for food. They will have to do that for about seven months, until the chick can fly.

Albatrosses normally return to the same nesting spot every year. Wisdom’s current nest is near her earlier nests. In 2017, scientists spotted one of Wisdom’s children in a nest nearby. Because Wisdom has been laying eggs for so long, she could have her chicks and the chicks of her chicks all around her.

And there may soon be one more to add to the list.

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Did You Know…?
Adult albatrosses spend a lot of their lives flying over the sea, resting from time to time on the water to eat. Wisdom has probably flown around 3.5 million miles in her lifetime.