Melissa Lander, age 10, of Rowayton, Connecticut, for her question:

Which bird has the widest wingspread?

The champion is the wandering albatross    no doubt about it. Standing beside his nest, you would never suspect that such enormous wings are folded neatly to his feather sides. He looks somewhat like a goose with a large hooked beak. Take off is not easy because his legs are a bit too skinny for his heavy body and he is a rather clumsy runner. He does better when he launches himself from the water because he can use his big webbed feet as paddles.

When he lifts into the air, his clumsy take off is forgotten. After a few flaps, he spreads his long slender wings and soars like a graceful glider. From tip to tip, they measure 12 feet    which is about as wide as a fair sized living room. The wandering albatross is a white bird who spends most of his life at sea. He can soar for hours, tilting his wide wingspread to soar with a tail wind or even against a head wind. Because he uses those magnificent wide wings so skillfully, he is the world's champion glider.