Wisdom is Here

 For those of you who were wondering, Wisdom is back again this year and has laid another egg.  If you are new to the blog, Wisdom is the oldest known wild bird.  She is at least 62 years old.  We know she is at least that old because she was banded as an adult on a nest in 1956, and albatross are at least 5 years old when they mate.  I noticed that I never did mention that her chick fledged last season.  We are assuming that it did, since we had no evidence to the contrary.  Here are a few links with more of my photos, and a video that I got of Wisdom laying the egg.
 http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/69106441224/wisdom-the-laysan-albatross-returned-to-midway
http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/37132842813/sharing-wisdom-worlds-oldest-banded-bird-teaches-us
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/sets/72157632891366006/with/11214517633/

It was the Thai king's birthday on December 5th.  We had a nice celebration here at one of the Thai houses.  The Thai's usually have big celebrations for the king's birthday and Songkran (the Traditional Thai New Year), which is in April.  

Wisdom (on the left) is sitting with her mate.

This is Wisdom a few minutes after she laid her egg.

There were photos and information about the Thai king posted in the Clipper House for the week.

There was also a birthday card for people on island to sign.

The actual birthday celebration was a good time with a lot of Thai food.

I haven't shown many Black-footed albatross lately, so here's one.