Oldest Known Wild Bird Lays Record-Setting Egg in Hawaii

The Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) is a big, far-ranging bird that roams the North Pacific. The species nests on Midway Island, where back before World War 2, the Navy personnel stationed there called them “Gooney birds,” likely for their awkward landings and loud, grating calls. Now, in a revelation that’s eggz-traordinary, we learn that the world’s oldest known wild bird – yes, a 74-year-old Gooney bird named “Wisdom” – has laid what observers think is its 60th egg, which has to be some kind of a record.

Wisdom would appear to be in the running for Lord of the Wings.

The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, U.S. wildlife officials said.

The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post this week.

Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai has not been seen for several years and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.

“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. Every year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young.

Wisdom is a veritable Methuselah among birds, but reports are that she is healthy, and therefore not a birden on her new mate, who has clearly fowlen in love with the elderly gooney. And this sp-egg-tacular feat or reproduction will surely land Wisdom and her new tweet-heart in the record books. 

Albatrosses are known as a good-luck sign among seafarers, although woe be to any nautical type who harms one. They are impressive fliers, wielding a wingspan that can approach eight feet. They can sleep on the wing, which allows them to stay at sea for extended periods, and they roam the North Pacific from America to Asia, from Hawaii to the Aleutians, seeking the squid, fish, and crustaceans that make up their diet. They are reported to live up to 60 years in the wild, although Wisdom has surpassed not only the typical gooney lifespan but also the traditional human threescore and ten. She seems determined to hang around, and it’s good to set gulls for oneself.

Seven out of 10 gooneys nest on Midway Island, as I mentioned, the same Midway of World War 2 fame. That island is now a designated wildlife refuge and closed to the general public, which may account for the gooneys having ducked extinction.

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Stories like this always beak one’s interest, don’t they? May Wisdom and her mate live the rest of their lives with no egrets. 

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