The oldest known wild bird in the U.S. is a new mother. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist spotted the Laysan albatross that’s at least 60 years old a few weeks ago. The grand old lady of albatrosses, is still raising chicks and doesn’t look a day older than she did in 1956.
Researchers call her Wisdom, and at 60 years of age she was recently found sitting on an egg on Midway Atoll, a remote wildlife refuge 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu.
The researchers didn’t recognize her at first. There was not a trace of gray in the feathers, and no tiredness around the eyes.
Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the US Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, said that fifty-five years after she was initially banded, she looks the same.
Peterjohn said that Wisdom has likely raised at least 30 to 35 chicks during her life.
Albatross lay just one egg a year. But it takes most of a year to incubate and raise a chick, and the seabirds sometimes take a year off from parenting after successfully raising a fledged bird
“Based on the banding data we have, she seems to be at a fairly exceptional age,” he said. “This is well beyond the average lifespan of an albatross.”
That means she has probably outlived at least a couple of mates, though researchers cannot say for sure because they have no way to track her partners over time.
Most albatrosses on the islands in the northwest Hawaiian chain seem to live 30 to 40 years.
He said researchers have known about the long-lived white bird since 2002, when they went back to their records after re-banding her and found that she had been first tagged in 1956 by researcher Chandler Robbins, now 92, a well known bird expert.
Peterjohn said researchers soon realized they had tracked the oldest known albatross in North America, and that she
was probably about 52 years old in 2002. Since then, the researches have been keeping closer track of her status on the island.
Birds tend to get re-banded about every 10 years, when the aluminum rings wear out and need a replacement. Wisdom’s latest band is printed in big type.
The researchers could not confirm if the fledgling that hatched from it is male or female. The chick will likely stay with its mom until June or July, when it gets old enough to fly off on its own.
Wisdom is a Laysan Albatross, which is listed as a “near threatened” species by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, an improvement from its previous classification as “vulnerable” due to a recent population
rebound.
As to the albatross’s method of staying young so long, Robbins said that will likely remain the bird’s secret. “They all look the same. It is only people that look old,” he said
With information from press releases of
Associated Press and Agence France Presse
oldest known wild bird in the U.S. is a new mother. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist spotted the Laysan albatross that’s at least 60 years old a few weeks ago. The grand old lady of albatrosses, is still raising chicks and doesn’t look a day older than she did in 1956.
Researchers call her Wisdom, and at 60 years of age she was recently found sitting on an egg on Midway Atoll, a remote wildlife refuge 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu.
The researchers didn’t recognize her at first. There was not a trace of gray in the feathers, and no tiredness around the eyes.
Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the US Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, said that fifty-five years after she was initially banded, she looks the same.
Peterjohn said that Wisdom has likely raised at least 30 to 35 chicks during her life.
Albatross lay just one egg a year. But it takes most of a year to incubate and raise a chick, and the seabirds sometimes take a year off from parenting after successfully raising a fledged bird
“Based on the banding data we have, she seems to be at a fairly exceptional age,” he said. “This is well beyond the average lifespan of an albatross.”
That means she has probably outlived at least a couple of mates, though researchers cannot say for sure because they have no way to track her partners over time.
Most albatrosses on the islands in the northwest Hawaiian chain seem to live 30 to 40 years.
He said researchers have known about the long-lived white bird since 2002, when they went back to their records after re-banding her and found that she had been first tagged in 1956 by researcher Chandler Robbins, now 92, a well known bird expert.
Peterjohn said researchers soon realized they had tracked the oldest known albatross in North America, and that she
was probably about 52 years old in 2002. Since then, the researches have been keeping closer track of her status on the island.
Birds tend to get re-banded about every 10 years, when the aluminum rings wear out and need a replacement. Wisdom’s latest band is printed in big type.
The researchers could notconfirm if the fledgling that hatched from it is male or female. The chick will likely stay with its mom until June or July, when it gets old enough to fly off on its own.
Wisdom is a Laysan Albatross, which is listed as a “near threatened” species by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, an improvement from its previous classification as “vulnerable” due to a recent population
rebound.
As to the albatross’s method of staying young so long, Robbins said that will likely remain the bird’s secret. “They all look the same. It is only people that look old,” he said
With information from press releases of
Associated Press and Agence France Presse
