World’s oldest known wild bird lays egg on Midway Atoll

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross reputed to be the world’s oldest known bird in the wild, has returned to Midway Atoll and laid another egg, federal wildlife officials confirmed earlier this week.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in a Facebook post that Wisdom appeared at her nest site Nov. 29 at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial. Biologists also confirmed that she laid an egg.

Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, return to the same nest site on Midway Atoll each year. Although albatross often take time off to rest between egg-laying years, the pair has been observed meeting at Midway to lay and hatch an egg every year since 2006. Typically, albatross spend 90 percent of their lives flying over the ocean, feeding on squid and fish eggs.

Laysan albatrosses only lay one egg and raise one chick per year. Both parents take turns incubating the egg, and one cares for it while the other heads out to find food, sometimes for as long as a month.

Biologist Chandler Robbins first identified and banded Wisdom as an adult in 1956. She has returned to Midway almost every year since 2002. Since 2006, she has successfully raised and fledged at least nine chicks and logged millions of miles of flight. USFWS officials estimate that she may have produced at least 30 to 35 chicks over her lifetime. Biologists believe she is at least 68 years old.

Wisdom also laid an egg and was incubating it at Midway at about the same time last year.

Midway Atoll at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is home to more than 70 percent of the world’s Laysan albatross. Most return to the place where they were born to breed and raise their young.

Fans can find updates on Wisdom on Twitter @USFWSPacific and on Facebook.