Longevity Records of North American Birds: Columbidae Through Paridae

J. Field Ornithol., 54(2):123-137

LONGEVITY RECORDS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS: COLUMBIDAE THROUGH PARIDAE

BY ROGER B. CLAPP, M. KATHLEEN KLIMKIEWICZ, AND ANTHONY G. FUTCHER

This paper is the secondin a four-part seriessupplementing and extendingan earlier summaryby Kennard (Bird-Banding46:55-73, 1975). It is based on an extensive review of the literature and a detailed examinationof the recordsin the Bird BandingLaboratory (hereafter BBL), Laurel, Maryland. A more detailedaccount of the work done and of changesin format from Kennard (op. cit.) is givenby Clapp et al. (J. Field Ornithol. 53:81-124, 1982). We have used 5 years of age as a minimum for inclusionof species with a considerablenumber of bandings,but have arbitrarily included a few recordsof lesserage for speciesthat have been little studiedand for which there is no previouspublished information. Data listedin the table of longevities(Table 2) are presentedin the sameformat as in the precedingpaper in this seriesexcept that we do not use the codesfor inexact dates of recovery,because we felt that thesemight be confusingto the reader. Such inexact dates of recovery have been equated to the earliestdate that the bird could have been recovered(e.g., spring= 1 March, cf. Table 1 in Clapp et al., op. cit.). The estimatedminimum age is calculatedby assuminga hatchingdate of 1 June as wasdone by Kennard (op. cit.). The recoverytotal is for thoseprocessed through August 1981. The bandingtotal is a compositederived from severalsources (Clapp et al., op. cit.) and is an inexact,but close,approximation of the total number bandedsince the inceptionof bird bandingin North America.Reasons for inclusionof recoveryand bandingtotals were givenin Clapp et al. (op. cit.). The codesfor age and sex(Table 1) are thoseused by the BBL. "Year" in thesecodes always refers to the calendaryear of banding. Many of the birds listedwere bandedbefore someof thesecodes (e.g., HY, AHY) cameinto useand a number of the earlier codes(e.g., N, I) do not have the sameimplications as thoseused currently (e.g., the previouslyused N and I for the currently used L and HY); therefore, we have listed age and sex as they appear on the original banding schedules.An age or sex listed in parenthesesindicates an age or sex not in the original data that we have added. Such emendations are based either on information receivedsubsequent to the original bandingor on the present use of the age codes(U = AHY in January). One of three symbolsis usuallygiven before the common name in the list of longevitiesin Table 2. A # indicatesthat this is the samebird listedby Kennard (op. cit.). The estimatedminimum age for thesebirds is the sameas in Kennard'spaper. An * denotesa bird of greater age than that givenin the originallist and two ** indicatea speciesnot listed by Kennard. An *# before two entries (Purple Martin and American

123 124] R. B. Clappetal. J. FieldOrnithol. Spring 1983

T^BI, E 1. Codesused in list of longevitiesof North Americanbirds (Table 2).

Codes for age and sex and their verbal equivalent A = Adult HY= Hatchingyear M = Male AHY = After hatchingyear I = Immature N = Nestling ASY = After secondyear J = Juvenile SY = Secondyear F = Female L = Local U -- Unknown

Codes for "How Recovered" 00= Found dead 28 = Caught by hand 01 = Shot 29 = Sight record; identified by color 03 = Caught due to injury band or marker other than U.S. 04 = Caught by or due to trap or snare Fish and Wildlife Service band other than usedfor catchingbirds 45 = Founddead or injured on highway 09= Caught by or due to hawks,owls, 52 = Sight record: band read by tele- or other raptors scopeor other means 12 = Caught by or due to cat 89 = Trapped and releasedby bander 14 = Struck or struckby motor vehicle in different 10-minute block than 16 = Collectedas scientificspecimen or where originallybanded for scientificstudy 99 = Trapped and releasedby bander 20= Caught due to disease in same 10-minute block where 21 = Caught or found dead in building originallybanded or enclosure

Crow) indicatesthat theseare the samebirds as thoselisted by Kennard, but are listed with greater ages.These resulted from discrepancieswe discoveredwhile examiningthe original data. Three entries(Northern [Yellow-shafted]Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, and Barn Swallow)that lack a symbolpreceding the Englishname are replacementsfor entries in Kennard that proved to be invalid and are younger than the birds listed there. Thirty-seven (40.2%) of the records for the 92 taxa listed in Table 2 representbirds of greater longevitythan thoselisted by Kennard (op. cit.). Forty-six(50%) are for taxa not listedin the original paper. Six (6.5%) recordsrepresent longevities that have not been exceededsince the originalpaper and the remainingthree (3.3%) recordsare for birds of lesserage than thosein the original paper. We encouragebanders to submitrecords for avianlongevities greater than those listed to the BBL. Copies should be sent to Clapp and Klimkiewicz.We alsosolicit data on longevityfor speciesnot listedhere that are older than thoselisted by Kennard (1975) or by Clapp et al. (op. cit.) and for species4 yearsold or older that are not listedby these sources.This information will be helpful in producingfurther supple- mentson the longevityof North American birds.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people aided us in obtainingthe data presentedin this paper by supplyingus with original banding or recoverydata. Many of these Vol.54, No. 9 Longevity.'Columbidae through Paridae [ 125

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individuals are listed in Table 2; we thank them and all others for their help. Kelly Bryan, David DeSante,Charles A. Ely, John J. Flores,David W. Johnston,Chandler S. Robbins,and Bruce Sorrie were particularly helpful in supplyingdata for this part of the supplement. Personnelof the Bird BandingLaboratory, Office of Migratory Bird Managementand the Marine Bird Project,Denver Wildlife Research Center,aided us in locatingand verifyinglongevity records at the BBL. Among thesemany individuals,we particularlythank Nancy G. Mullis, whoseincomparable knowledge of the recoveryfiles saved us manyhours of work; George M. Jonkel, Chief, BBL, for his assistanceand encour- agement,and Donald E. Wilson,Chief, MuseumSection, for permitting the seniorauthor to travel to Patuxent to work on this project. Lyda Eubank kindly typed Table 2 for final publication. MuseumSection, Denver Wildlife Research Center, U.S. Fishand WildlifeSer- vice,National Museum of NaturalHistory, Washington, D.C. 20560 (R.B.C.); Bird BandingLaboratory, Office of MigratoryBird Management,Patuxent WildlifeResearch Center, U.S. Fishand WildlifeService, Laurel, Maryland 20708 (M.K.K.); BiologyDepartment, Columbia Union College, Takoma Park, Maryland20912(A.G.F.). Received20 Dec. 1982;accepted 22 Mar. 1983.