The world’s oldest known wild bird is 64 years old—and she’s still laying eggs

http://qz.com/562034/the-worlds-oldest-wild-bird-is-64-years-old-and-shes-still-laying-eggs/?utm_source=ff

Svati Kirsten Narula
December 01, 2015

The oldest known bird in the wild is a female Laysan albatross named Wisdom, and US Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they were glad to report that she appeared in Hawaii about two weeks ago, with a mate.

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Wisdom has been flying to Hawaii’s Midway Atoll to raise chicks year after year since 1956, when scientists first started tracking her. They estimate that she was around five years old when they attached her tracking band, making her at least 64 now.

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Midway Atoll is the world’s largest nesting ground for albatrosses, sea birds that can fly thousands of miles without ever flapping their wings (which span up to six feet). Wildlife officials estimate that Wisdom has flown 50,000 miles a year, or between two and three million miles since she was first banded.

That Wisdom is still alive is remarkable—sea bird populations have declined by 70% overall in the last half-century—as is her continued parenting. An albatross can lay one egg per year. Successfully incubating, hatching, and raising the chick takes five to six months.

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http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Midway_Atoll/Whats_New_Wisdom.html

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National

What’s New December 2015

The world's oldest known bird in the wild, named Wisdom, returned November 19, 2015 to Pihemanu (Hawaiian place name given to Midway meaning "loud din of birds"). She was sighted with her mate on November 21 and on Saturday, November 28 was observed incubating her egg.