Wisdom the Laysan Albatross still smashing age and breeding records for wild birds

Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird, is at least 68 years old and has raised upwards of 35 chicks in her lifetime. Conservation actions have helped her thrive.

Wisdom and her chick, Midway National Wildlie Refuge Photo: U.S. Fish and Widlife Service

Wisdom was banded in 1956, when she was already at least five years old. Now, in spring 2019, she and her mate Akeakamai (“desire for wisdom” in the Hawaiian language) are rearing yet another chick. Check out this great video of Wisdom and her 2018 chick, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Says USFWS’s Beth Flint, a biologist at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge: “She’s incredibly powerful as a symbol of why we do what we do. She is re-writing history about our understanding of how long birds live and how often they breed.” For everyone involved with protecting albatrosses, and for people who love the ocean, Wisdom’s tenacity is proof and inspiration that albatrosses are tough and resilient enough to thrive into the future.

Audubon helps our three species of North Pacific albatrosses - Laysan, Short-tailed, and Black-footed - by protecting the forage base, helping clean up toxins on Hawaiian breeding islands, reducing incidental catch in fisheries, reducing plastics in the ocean, and promoting U.S. ratification of international agreements to conserve albatrosses. Furthermore, agencies, NGOs, and academic groups in the U.S. and Japan have collaborated for decades to protect and restore these magnificent birds.

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