Earlier this month, we celebrated the birthday of the world’s oldest living land animal, and now it’s time to celebrate the return of the world’s oldest wild land bird. The Wisdom albatross returned to its nesting grounds in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific on December 1.

Wisdom is a female Laysan albatross ( Phoebastria immutabilis ), also known as mōlī, believed to be at least 70 years old. These seagulls return to these tiny atolls every year to breed, with males often arriving earlier than females. According to All About Birds, nearly the entire population of these birds relies on the islands in the Hawaiian chain as their breeding grounds. However, over the past two years, Wisdom’s mate, a male albatross named Akeakamai, has not been seen at the atoll, adding to fears that he may have passed away. He was last seen at the hideout in 2021.

Wisdom was first tagged in the 1950s and bears the character Z333, which helps experts and researchers identify her annual return. During the time she was monitored, the team observed her raising 30-36 chicks in her lifetime as these birds typically breed every two years.

In a social media post, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific (USFWS) announced that she was back, along with monitoring wildlife biologist Jon Plissner said he had seen Wisdom participating in mating dances but did not expect her to breed this year.