World’s oldest bird spotted alive and well

By Dean Murray

Environmentalists are celebrating after the world’s oldest bird has been spotted alive and well.

Wisdom, a 75-year-old Laysan albatross, has returned for nesting season to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge near Honolulu, Hawaii.

It comes after the wild seabird successfully laid an egg last year for the first time in four years. She was seen feeding her latest chick in February.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) said: "The queen returns!

"Like other Laysan albatross, or mōlī in Hawaiian, Wisdom returns to the same nesting site each year to reunite with her mate, and if able, lay one egg."

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Wisdom’s arrival to the refuge in the central Pacific Ocean is slightly earlier than prior years. Her new mate from last year has not been seen yet, according to staff.

Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg, and the large seabirds aren’t known to breed before age five.

It is estimated that Wisdom has produced 50-60 eggs and as many as 30 chicks that fledged in her lifetime.

Each year, millions of seabirds return to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge on the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago to nest and raise their young.

"Wisdom, specifically, has been doing this since the Eisenhower administration," add USFWS.

Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is located in the North Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,300 miles (2,100 km) northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.