This live cam is brought to you by the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (FOMA), which is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the ecological, cultural and historical significance of this National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial. Please consider becoming a member or donating to FOMA at to keep this camera broadcasting and to support conservation of wildlife, including birds like Wisdom, at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Donate to Friends of Midway Atoll. Thank you!
- Wisdom, a 75-year-old Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll in November 2025.
- She is the oldest known bird and has been visiting the island for decades.
- Fans and scientists alike are excited to see her back for another nesting season.
Wisdom, the oldest-known bird, returns for the nesting season
She’s back! Wisdom, the legendary Laysan albatross, has returned to Midway Atoll for the 2025-2026 nesting season. At the esteemable age of 75 years, she holds the distinction of being the oldest-known bird. Just imagine … Wisdom has been breeding on that island since the Eisenhower administration. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service excitedly announced her arrival on November 20, 2025, on social media, proclaiming:
The queen returns!
Wisdom’s fans are cheering!
This record-breaking albatross has garnered many fans on social media. Her return was celebrated with great excitement. One fan said on Facebook:
She was born just a few years after my father landed on Midway during WWII, one of many landings and refueling stops while on B-24 bombing missions farther west.
Another said:
Wisdom would have been on Midway when my older sister was born in 1958 and when I was born in 1960. Both of us were born on Midway.
And one person who actually met Wisdom said:
Yah Wisdom! She liked to untie my shoe when I was there in 2012. So glad she is still going strong.
Watching Wisdom over 7 decades
Laysan albatrosses return to the same nesting site each year to meet up with their mates. After mating, the female lays a single egg and they raise the chick together.
This year, 2025, Wisdom returned to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in November. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she came back slightly earlier to her nesting site compared to prior years. So far, observers have not sighted her mate from last year.
For seven decades, scientists have studied Wisdom’s stays on Midway Atoll during the nesting seasons. Overall, researchers estimate that Wisdom has produced 50 to 60 eggs and raised 30 to 36 chicks in her lifetime.
In 2021, Wisdom arrived at the atoll, but her long-time mate, Akeakamai, did not return. Consequently, she did not breed that year. However, that same year, one of her chicks that hatched in 2011 became a mother, making Wisdom a grandmother.
Observers also spotted Wisdom at the island in 2022 and 2023, but they saw no sign of breeding activity.
But in November 2024, Wisdom returned with a new mate. She laid an egg, her first in four years, and it hatched. Sadly, the chick did not survive to fledge.
We produced this video of Wisdom – world’s oldest known wild bird – after she returned to her winter nesting grounds at Midway Atoll in December 2024. She returned with a new mate and shortly afterward laid a new egg! But the chick that hatched did not survive.
Laysan albatrosses
Wisdom is a Laysan albatross, or moli. These birds return to tiny atolls in the Pacific every year starting in October. However, because of their long lifespans, they can be a challenge to study. In fact, a typical albatross lives for two to three times the length of a biologist’s career.
Plus, albatrosses are difficult to study because they spend up to 90% of their lives in the air, moving from their summer feeding range in the northern Pacific to the tiny atolls in the mid-Pacific that are their places to nest.
A peek at Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a national wildlife refuge. One look at the island on Google Street View will show you why. The island is teeming with birds. The images below are from June 2012 and show many albatrosses along with other birds. Here’s a more comprehensive list of the unique and beautiful birds that spend time at Midway Atoll.
How scientists have kept track of this legendary albatross
Scientists track the movements of some bird species using leg bands. These are durable plastic or metallic bands, placed around one or both legs. Bands are inscribed with identification codes that can be read from a distance using binoculars or telescopes. For Wisdom, her band code is Z333.
In 1956, Wisdom was banded by Chandler Robbins. Before that, she had just laid an egg. Because Laysan albatrosses start breeding around five years of age, she had to be at least five years old when Robbins banded her. That makes her at least 75 years old today.
EarthSky spoke to Robbins in 2016, a year before he passed away. He said:
Wisdom and I have been having a personal race in recent years to see which of us will return each year. Last winter, Wisdom disappeared at sea before her egg hatched, so I thought I was the winner, but she came back to Midway again this winter and successfully hatched her egg, so we are still tied, me at 97 years and she at least 65.
Almost nine years after Robbins died, Wisdom is still going strong, a fact that would have greatly pleased him. Scientists will continue the work that he and others started, observing Wisdom to see if she will successfully raise a chick during this new breeding season.
Bottom line: Wisdom, a beloved Laysan Albatross, is the oldest-known bird. At age 75 years, she returned to Midway Atoll in November 2025 for another breeding season.
Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.
More from
Shireen Gonzaga
Lost sisters of the Pleiades are scattered across the sky
Scientists discover toads that give birth to live young
Jane Goodall, an extraordinary life well-lived (1934 – 2025)
Nanotyrannus, a T. rex mini-me, coexisted with the big guys
