The world’s oldest wild bird is about to become a mother again at the grand age of 74.
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross nicknamed “the queen of seabirds,” has just laid another egg at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said on Tuesday.
The 74-year-old typically returns to the wildlife refuge every year where she used to reunite with her long-term mate Akeakamai, typically laying one egg, said officials.
But Akeakamai has not been seen for a few years and Wisdom’s last offspring hatched in 2021, BBC reported.
Then last week, Wisdom returned to the wildlife refuge and formed a new bond with another male bird.
“SHE DID IT AGAIN!” USFWS said in a statement on X.
Midway’s Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner called Wisdom’s first egg in four years “a special joy” and commended the albatross’s “energy and instincts.”
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” he added.
Throughout her life, Wisdom has laid an estimated 50 to 60 eggs with as many as 30 chicks fledging.
Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg.
In 2011, she and her chick survived a tsunami that struck Midway Atoll and swept thousands of Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses away, reported All about Birds for Cornell Lab.
According to the USFWS, the Laysan Albatross are smaller than other albatross and are recognized by their white bellies and “gull-like” heads.
