Biologists on Midway Island spotted a 70-plus-year-old female Laysan albatross named Wisdom courting potential mates months after the end of nesting season.
Wisdom the Albatross (far right) actively courting a potential new mate. Photo: USFWS
The world’s oldest wild bird is courting a new mate on a remote island off the coast of Hawaii, after losing her longtime mate. The female Wisdom albatross is likely in her 70s and has been flying around the North Pacific since President Eisenhower was in office, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Biologists first identified Wisdom in 1956 and placed a ring on her right leg. The ring is still on her leg today. The albatross was an adult when she was banded, meaning she was likely 72 years old, 20 years older than the average lifespan for the species. “Wisdom, the world’s oldest wild bird, was photographed last month at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge dancing with a potential mate,” said USFWS Pacific Regional Representative Akeakamai. “Her longtime mate, Akeakamai, has not returned and has been absent for the past two nesting seasons.”
The Laysan albatross ( Phoebastria immutabilis ) is a long-lived seabird that mates for life. It is named for the 145,000-pair colony on Laysan, an island northwest of Hawaii about 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) from Honolulu. Female Laysan albatross typically lay a single egg in early December, but Wisdom continues to engage in mating dances well into the spring, according to Jonathan Plissner, a biologist at the Midway Atoll Wildlife Refuge, about 1,300 miles (2,110 kilometers) from Honolulu.
Midway Atoll is home to the world’s largest Laysan albatross colony, with 600,000 breeding pairs returning to the two sandy islands each year. Wisdom began courting other birds in March, Plissner said, and has been making sporadic appearances on Midway Atoll since the nesting season began in late November 2023. Plissner doesn’t think Wisdom will nest this year, but she’s still pretty active for her age.
USFWS scientists estimate the elder albatross flew 5.6 million kilometers in her lifetime, the equivalent of seven round-trip flights to the moon. Laysan albatrosses begin breeding at 3 to 4 years old, according to the American Bird Conservancy, suggesting Wisdom laid 60 eggs in her lifetime, about half of which hatched into chicks while the other half may not have hatched or been lost to predation.
Between nesting seasons, Wisdom spends nearly half the year at sea, soaring across the Pacific Ocean for hours without flapping her 3-foot wings. Like many Laysan albatrosses, she fuels her long flights by eating small squid, fish eggs, fish, and crustaceans.
An Khang (According to Live Science )
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