Oldest wild bird Wisdom has more than doubled her life expectancy and become a grandma

Every year, staff at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge off the coast of America wait with bated breath to see if Laysan albatross Wisdom will return.

She’s defied the odds to become the world’s oldest wild bird, having lived for at least 74 years.

The species usually lives for a maximum of 40 years, but Wisdom has almost doubled that.

Along the way, she’s laid around 40 eggs, raised at least 30 chicks, and even welcomed grand-chicks.

Wisdom with a chick in 2011

Identified by the Z333 tag that was placed around her leg by US ornithologist Chandler Robbins in 1956, Wisdom returns most years to the spot in the Pacific Ocean.

She was thought to be at least five when she was ringed after laying an egg, as her species is not known to breed before this age.

Robbins, who died in 2017 aged 98, spotted her again in the same nesting area 46 years later and placed a new aluminium band with the same ID number around her ankle.

She’s last known to have laid an egg in late 2024, also making her the oldest breeding seabird in the world.

Wisdom is one of between two and three million Laysan albatrosses, or mōlī (Phoebastria immutabilis), who return to Midway every year to breed.

Albatrosses usually mate for life, but have been known to take a new partner if their other half dies.

Wisdom was partnered up with a male named Akeakamai since 2006, but he’s believed to have died after not making an appearance in 2021 or the years since.

The egg Wisdom laid in 2024 was from the result of her partnership with a new male albatross.

Wisdom with Akeakamai in 2015

Jon Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the Midway refuge, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “It's really been remarkable. Wisdom seems to pique the interest of people across the world. We wait each year with bated breath for her return."

Wisdom is also known to be a grandmother. One of her grown-up male offspring (ringed with N333) was seen roosting an egg in March 2023 that went on to hatch.

That was Wisdom’s second grand-chick, with another in May 2022 sadly dying.

Interestingly, Albatross parents share incubation duties, and the men also pitch in to help with feeding after the chick has hatched.