17 February 2025

In case you missed it, the world’s oldest known banded wild bird has become a mother again at age 74. (She might be even older than 74.)

Wisdom is a female Laysan albatross who was banded (red Z333) as a breeding adult at Midway Atoll in 1956. Since her species cannot breed until age six and usually delays breeding until age seven or eight, Wisdom is at least 74 years old now, maybe even 77.

Wisdom breeds at the world’s largest albatross colony on Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian Islands chain. Like all of her species she spends most of her life at sea but returns to her breeding grounds each year to rejoin her mate, lay one egg, and raise the chick.

This year she returned as usual and laid her egg in late November. Then she and her mate took turns incubating for about 65 days and their egg hatched in early February. Here’s the chick with its parents. (Wisdom has a red leg band.)

If Wisdom was a human she’d be part of the Baby Boomer generation. I cannot even imagine being a mother at her age!