Wisdom's chick, N333, who hatched in 2011, returned this nesting season to find her mate and by December 12, 2024 was incubating an egg.
On February 4, 2025 the chick had fully hatched! Wisdom's grand chick videos coming soon!!!
Wisdom's chick, wearing band number N333, first pipped into the world January of 2011 when his mother was 59 + years old. Fast forward to 2025 and N333 is now 14 years old and is currently rearing a chick of his own that hatched the first week of February 4, 2025! The mother of N333, Wisdom, is a Laysan albatross and the oldest known banded wild bird who returned to Midway Atoll this past fall. She was immediately lured into a mating dancing (or maybe it was vice versa) and laid an egg that hatched on January 29, 2025 at her usual nest site.
Laysan albatross do not reach sexual maturity until they are at least six years old. Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner documented observing N333 return each spring from 2018 through 2021 hanging out just a few feet from his parents’ nest but did not have a nest site or appear to have found a mate.
Has N333 reared previous chicks?
It wasn't until the fall of 2021, when N333 was 11 years old, that he found a compatible dance partner who is still his mate (band number DH00). In January 2022 they hatched a chick but it did not survive. It is not unusual for Laysan albatross to have several failed breeding or chick rearing attempts before being successful at both!
Sighting N333 the following nesting season was happenstance when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service volunteers Sarah Youngren and Dan Rapp noticed a banded bird sitting on a nest among the thick Naupaka bushes along a dune line near the beach. His chosen nest site was not in a study plot and approximately 176 yards from his natal nest site.
In January 2023 a chick was successfully reared and banded in May 2023 by a Friends of Midway Atoll board member.
N333 and DH00 showed up as expected in the late fall of 2023 but never made a breeding attempt. This past November 2024 was a different story when their chick began pipping on January 29, 2024! Photos and video are coming soon!
What makes N333 extraordinary?
N333 was not only Wisdom's chick but as a young chick he miraculously survived the March 2011 tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan.
A massive ocean swell surged across the Pacific that day, eventually inundating most of Eastern Island with water and debris, which included parts of Sand Island. It was estimated this swell killed 110,000 albatross chicks that were too young to fly and 2,000 adults. It was impossible to get a count of Bonin petrels as they were buried by debris, along with other wildlife. For complete story and visuals click here.
When Wisdom returned to Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) to feed her chick on March 20, 2011, it must have been a sigh of relief to see her chick alive amidst the devastation. N333 also survived in part due to the location of Wisdom’s nest site. The out-planting of native plant species has created a protective dune barrier that guards against rising sea swells from flooding the northern side of Sand Island. Wisdom’s nest site is located just inland of this sand dune line.
N333 certainly appears to be resilient and strong just like his mother. If hope is alive and well in the wildlife community, this is surely a sign!
Article written by Ann Bell