World’s oldest bird has baby

From Business Insider:

At 63, The World’s Oldest Wild Bird Just Had A Baby

Jennifer Welsh

Feb. 7, 2014, 2:37 PM

At 63 years young, the oldest wild bird that we know of, Wisdom the Laysan albatross, has had another baby!

Almost exactly a year after her last chick was born, the new baby started cracking out of its shell. Refuge workers first spotted the baby bird on Feb. 4, according to the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The birds live on the on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, in the Hawaiian archipelago. They arrive every year to mate, build a nest, lay an egg and incubate it, then hatch and brood their chick. The birds mate for life and take turns sitting on the egg.

It takes 365 days to lay and incubate the egg, then raise the chick. The albatross only lays one egg a year and then usually takes a breeding year off. But Wisdom amazingly, usually has a new chick each year.

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