‘The queen of seabirds’ has a new partner and a new egg — in her 70s, officials say
The world’s oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at about 74 years old, and wildlife officials say they’re hopeful it’ll hatch.
Wisdom, the Laysan albatross known as “the queen of seabirds,” appears up to the task of raising another chick, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific region wrote in a Dec. 3 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
She’s certainly had practice. She’s estimated to have produced 50 to 60 eggs, with as many as 30 chicks fledging in her long life, officials said.
Wisdom recently returned to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the far northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago. She started interacting with a male and laid an egg – her first in four years, officials said.
Jon Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist, called the egg “a special joy” and said officials are “optimistic” it will hatch, according to the post.
Like other birds of her kind, Wisdom returns to the same nesting spot year after year to lay an egg. She used to reunite there with her partner, Akeakamai, but that bird hasn’t been spotted for some time, officials said.
This year, Wisdom was seen with a new partner, who’s now been banded.
Wisdom first was identified and banded herself nearly 70 years ago, in 1956, officials said. She’d laid an egg, and “the large seabirds aren’t known to breed before age 5,” officials said, thus her age estimate.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 1:10 PM.
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