One of the world’s most famous birds has returned to her nesting site. Wisdom, the 75-year-old albatross is known as the world’s oldest breeding bird. Earlier this month, she returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the central Pacific Ocean for the 2025-2026 nesting season.
Laysal albatrosses like Wisdom (or mōlī in Hawaiian) return to the same nesting site every year. Once they reach the wildlife refuge on the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago, the birds will reunite with their mates. If all goes well, they will lay a single egg and stay on the atoll to nest. According to the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife, her arrival this year is slightly earlier than in previous years. Her mate from last year has also not been spotted yet.
In 1956, wildlife biologist Chandler Robbins first identified and banded Wisdom after she laid one egg. Since then, Wisdom has produced an estimated 50 to 60 eggs and as many as 30 chicks have fledged in her lifetime. Last year, Wisdom became the world’s oldest known wild bird to successfully lay an egg at the estimated age of 74.
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Deep-sea sponges and greenland sharks are also known in the animal kingdom for their advanced reproductive ages. The colonial sponges are believed to possibly reproduce for thousands of years, while the elusive greenland sharks can live upwards of 200 years and reproduce through many of them.
Laysal albatrosses like Wisdom (center) return to the atoll every year to nest. Image: Jon Plissner/USFWS.
If the name “Midway” sounds familiar, it’s probably because you learned about the pivotal Battle of Midway in World War II. In 1993, President Bill Clinton transferred the atoll from the Navy to the Department of the Interior. These islands are now home to the Battle of Midway National Memorial and the sanctuary for millions of birds and marine life.
