Oldest Known Bird Hatches a New Chick

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Wisdom and her new chick in February 2014. (Image credit: Ann Bell/USFWS)

The world's oldest known wild bird just became a mother again.

The 63-year-old Laysan albatross named Wisdom was spotted taking care of her newborn earlier this month on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

"Her ability to continue to hatch chicks during the last half century is beyond impressive despite the threats that albatross face at sea," refuge biologist Pete Leary said in a statement. For example, flying fish eggs are a key part of the albatross diet, but flying fish sometimes attach their eggs to bits of discarded plastic floating at sea, Leary explained.

Though the sea-faring albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) lays only one egg a year, mothers spend much of their year incubating and raising their chick, according to FWS officials.

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Megan Gannon
Megan Gannon
Live Science Contributor
Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.