Which bird has the largest wingspan of any living bird?

The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird.

Its wings can reach about 3.7 meters (12 feet) from tip to tip, with many adults measuring closer to 3 meters. This enormous span lets the bird exploit wind gradients above the Southern Ocean, allowing it to glide for hours with very little flapping. Albatrosses use dynamic soaring to gain energy from differences in wind speed near the sea surface and higher in the air.

The wandering albatross spends most of its life at sea and comes ashore mainly to breed on remote subantarctic islands. It usually lays a single egg, and both parents share incubation and chick-rearing. The species mates for life in many cases and may not begin breeding until it is 11 to 15 years old.

A common mix-up involves the southern royal albatross, which has a similarly impressive wingspan and is among the largest flying birds. The record is also different from the largest wingspan of any bird ever: extinct species such as Pelagornis had much wider wings. The wandering albatross holds the living-bird record.