Raising a Chick at the Age of Sixty

Wisdom’s first band was placed on her while incubating an egg in the year 1956, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been keeping an eye on her ever since. To be able to breed, a Laysan Albatross needs to be five years old, which now puts her age at an estimated sixty years. Wisdom is a celebrity of the North American Bird Banding Program, as she is the oldest bird on their records since the project was initiated ninety years ago. Now she is raising another chick, which brings her total number of chicks raised during her lifetime to approximately thirty to thirty-five. What is even more amazing, is the fact that these birds mate for life, meaning that her partner is either still accompanying her on her journey or she has outlived him.

Laysan Albatross (Diomedea immutabilis)

It has always been said that whilst on the ocean you could predict that land is near after sighting a bird. Which is true in most cases, however, sighting an Albatross is no sign of land. These birds are known to be the “nomads of the ocean” and will usually only go on land to [...]