Wisdom, a Leysan albatross believed to be the world’s oldest wild bird, has returned to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday.
The 71-year-old man, who was spotted on Thanksgiving Day, has reappeared in the same location in the North Pacific for decades, the agency wrote on Facebook. During her life, she raised about 30 chicks. Last year, scientists learned that she had become a grandmother after one of her offspring was observed helping to raise her own chick.
Bob Payton/US Fish and Wildlife Service via AP
However, Wisdom’s longtime mate, Akeakamai — whose name means “lover of wisdom” in Hawaiian — has not been seen at the wildlife refuge this year. The couple’s last chick hatched in early 2021, when Wisdom was at least 70.
Dan Clark/US Fish and Wildlife Service via AP
Scientists can identify Wisdom by an aluminum ID clipped around the ankle. Renowned ornithologist Chandler Robbins first banded her in 1956 and gave her a new band in 2002. Robbins died in 2017 at the age of 98, more than six decades after first meeting Wisdom.
“I like to think that in all her years, Wisdom has learned to avoid most of the dangers that threaten seabirds,” Robbins told Living Bird magazine shortly before her death. He noted that when Wisdom was first encountered, she was nesting in a location well protected from tsunamis, but close to overhead power lines and traffic, which could pose a risk to seabirds. When he recaptured her years later, he said, she had moved to a new nesting site free of such dangers.
Dan Clark/US Fish and Wildlife Service via AP
There are some proponents of wisdom who don’t believe it could be the same bird that returns year after year, The Washington Post reported in 2016. Skeptics say someone probably switched the ID band to a new albatross at some point . But scientists seem confident she’s the real deal, while acknowledging her case is unusual.
“Albatrosses are extremely long-lived, but what’s unusual about Wisdom is that she’s much older than other birds,” seabird ecologist Richard Phillips told The New York Times last year.
After Wisdom, the next oldest wild albatross known to Phillips is 61 years old, he said.
On social media, news of Wisdom’s return this year was met with celebration and appreciation for her resilience.
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