World's Oldest Bird, Wisdom, Just Hatched Another Chick at Age 65

The world's oldest banded wild bird has given birth to a new chick. The bird, who is at least a staggering 65 years old, welcomed a tiny baby bird into the world on Feb. 1.

The bird, an albatross named Wisdom, nested at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge with others of her colony. In fact, the refuge is a USFWS facility that houses the world's largest albatross colony.

It takes about seven months for a Laysan albatross to incubate and then raise a chick. However, albatrosses aren't known for staying put. These birds can travel hundreds of miles away and log thousands of miles in the air each year, using their six-foot wingspan to soar on air currents above the ocean.

"Wisdom is really teaching us how much we have to learn," said Susan White, project leader within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an interview with National Geographic. "We didn't know an albatross would live this long and still be producing chicks."

Wisdom was first banded in 1956 as part of a project with the U.S. Geological Survey when she was about five years old. While several of Wisdom's bands have rusted and been replaced over the years, the bird herself has remained young and spry in appearance and behavior.

Now, it looks as if Wisdom is rearing yet another chick to add to the population of albatrosses.

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