World's Oldest Wild Bird Just Laid Another Dang Egg

[Judi Lynn]

Ryan F. Mandelbaum
Yesterday 4:45pm

The world’s oldest wild bird, Wisdom the Laysan albatross, has once again returned to her breeding grounds, and she has laid another egg. She is at least 68 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 6.

Laysan albatross are sea-faring birds found in the northern Pacific Ocean that breed in the northwestern Hawaiian islands, nesting in enormous breeding colonies. Scientists first banded Wisdom as an adult in 1956, meaning that she’s at least 68 years old. She successfully reared a chick last year—and has returned this year to raise another egg.

Wisdom’s story began in 1956 when biologist Chandler Robbins banded her near a U.S. Navy barracks. She was already an adult, meaning she was at least 6 years old at the time. Scientists band birds in order to track them and monitor their populations, and you can occasionally spot bands on birds found in the wild. Wisdom was one of 8,400 albatross banded that year and one of hundreds of thousands of Laysan albatross breeding on Midway Island, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Tumblr post.

It was Robbins who spotted Wisdom again 46 years later while surveying the nesting site. Biologists were able to read the original number on her band.

More:
https://gizmodo.com/worlds-oldest-wild-bird-just-laid-another-dang-egg-1830885445

[Duppers]

1. WOW!!!