67 Year Old Mum in a Million – The Chick Is Hatched!

3 months ago Wisdom, the world’s oldest known living wild bird laid an egg, to add to her tally of 36 she has notched up over her nearly 7 decades.

3 months is a lot of sitting on an egg, but Wisdom’s diligence has been rewarded – now the great day has come, and she is proud mum once again to a fluffy little Laysan albatross chick.

What perfect timing – Happy Mother’s Day Wisdom!

Wisdom was believed to be just five-years-old when she was first banded back in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins when Midway Atoll was an active U.S. Naval Air Station. In 2002 Robbins encountered her again by chance and her story took off.

Wisdom flies thousands of miles every year to return to Midway Atoll, the breeding site for millions of birds. It is the largest population of albatross on earth: 73 percent of all Laysan albatross, 36 percent of all Black-footed albatross and endangered Short-tailed albatross.

“Midway Atoll’s habitat doesn’t just contain millions of birds, it contains countless generations and families of albatrosses” said Kelly Goodale, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge Biologist. “If you can imagine when Wisdom returns home she is likely surrounded by what were once her chicks and potentially their chicks. What a family reunion!”

Credit: B. Peyton/USFWS Pacific Region

The main threats to these birds – on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – are entanglement in fishing tackle, and swallowing plastic.

It will be another 4 months before Wisdom’s newest baby will fledge. Until then she and her mate Mr Goo have their work cut out avoiding those dangers and providing all the food that a growing chick requires.

Long may you flourish Wisdom and Mr Goo, and continue gracing the world with your beautiful offspring.

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Please help Wisdom and all life in the oceans by signing and sharing these petitions – thank you!

Tell McDonalds to replace their one-time use plastic straws with eco-paper straws

Tell Tesco: Stop selling disposable plastic straws!

Bring back bottle deposits to stop plastic pollution in our oceans

Ban disposable plastic in the UK

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The BBC’s comprehensive overview of the plastic pollution problem

Ten tips for living with less plastic

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For more updates on Wisdom, check out the USFWS Pacific Region on Tumblr and Flickr.