The world’s oldest Laysan albatross, a female named Wisdom, nesting on Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge. Photograph: USFWS - Pacific Region
Posted on 12/07/2018 11:31:55 AM PST by Red Badger
In sea mariner lore, an albatross is considered a good omen, and for almost seven decades, one bird has spread generations of blessings across the Pacific Ocean.
Wisdom, a 68-year-old Laysan albatross believed to be the world’s oldest known wild bird, has returned to her home at the Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge for yet another winter – and laid yet another egg to add to the already impressive brood that she has built up over an impressive lifetime.
Biologists with the US Fish and Wildlife Service think the almost-septuagenarian has birthed and raised as many as 36 chicks over the years. Should her latest egg with her longtime lover, Akeakamai, hatch, fledge and take to the open sea, it will be her 37th. Trump administration plans to weaken protections for sage grouse Read more
Wisdom was first banded in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins, who estimated that she was about five years old at the time. The biologist and bird met again in 2002 when he went to band her and recognized that she had been one of the 8,400 birds he recorded during his first season, 46 years previously.
Albatrosses are known for their long life spans and often outlive their researchers – Robbins died in 2017 at the age 98 – but what makes Wisdom unique is that researchers have been able to monitor her habits for so long. She may or may not be the oldest wild bird, but she is the oldest known wild bird, and her habits have been lovingly documented by the fish and wildlife service over social media.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
The world’s oldest Laysan albatross, a female named Wisdom, nesting on Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge. Photograph: USFWS - Pacific Region
Just what you need for your collection....
Looks like Pelosi, but a lot younger and more attractive.
How do we know which bird is the oldest? Is someone checking id’s of birds? If they can do it, why can’t we do it for elections??
Slut.
I suppose she expects the taxpayers to pay for her lifestyle now.
;-)
Is someone checking id’s of birds?
Yes.............
Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn’it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
They mate for life, so while she may be prolific, she’s not a slut but an upstanding member of society ;-)
Had a few of these birds gliding in our wakes in the Pacific not far from Midway. Maybe she was one of them and would have been in her late teens then and just a few years younger than me. And the Fleetwood Mac version. One of my favorite instrumentals.
Old and used...
I bet they found a way to swap their tags around.
The bloody "plumage" doesn't enter into it! He's stone cold dead!
Mating for life is a nice concept. And we know she’s not sleeping around how?
*ping*
Occasionally, birds who ‘mate for life’ do sleep around, or even divorce. But generally it’s ‘til death do us part’.
I worked on albacore boats back in the 70’s and always enjoyed watching them skim the wave tops, rarely flapping their wings, just gliding. Big birds, 6 to 7 foot wingspans. It is a sin to kill one according to the poem.
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