A selection of longevity records from the banding scheme's database
for some of the local small passerines:
Grey Fantail 9 years,
8 months
Eastern Yellow Robin 14 years, 7 months
Striated
Thornbill 23 years, 6 months
Brown Thornbill 17 years, 7
months
White-browed Scrubwren 17 years, 7 months
Superb
Fairy-wren 10 years, 5 months
Spotted Pardalote 4
years
Striated Pardalote 6 years
Silvereye 18 years, 7
months
Eastern Spinebill 15 years, 5 months
Red-browed Finch
23 years, 5 months
Paul
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:42:54 +1100
From:
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Longevity of
Australian passerines
Further to Erika Roper's link to Scientific
American re Citizen Science, I followed a few links, and came across this story
"The Oldest Northern Shrike in North America."
http://ebird.org/content/wi/news/the-oldest-northern-shrike-in-north-americaWhat immediately attracted my attention was the age "record":
"at least 8.5 years old and the oldest Northern Shrike ever known in North
America."What - 8.5 years is a "record"?This confirms
something I vividly remember my father, Steve Wilson talking about with his
American friend and colleague, Don Lamm - namely that the small Australian
passerines such as Brown Thornbills and White-browed Scrubwrens easily outlive
the "normal lifespans" of many Northern Hemisphere birds.
I hope that
Banders such as Mark Clayton or Anthony Overs, or other COG members such as
Philip Veerman, who keep up with the Literature, might be able to provide more
details on longevity of small Australian passerines. But from memory, many of
the birds we banded at New Chums Road, exceeded 12 years, and no doubt there are
other heroic examples which have gone closer to 18 years. We all know stories of
captive Cockatoos living 60 years or more - but they might not be representative
of wild birds (and they are not Passerines).
I recall the theory for this
was along the lines that our small birds did not have to undertake stressful
migrations (either across to Mexico, or across the Mediterranean - to Africa, in
the case of European migratory species). Whereas a "Scrubbie" once it survived
its first year, and established a territory, more or less knew all about the
threats which would face it for the rest of its life, except for catastrophic
events such as severe bushfires which might totally destroy its
habitat.
As Dad used express it, once and "Old Scrubbie" woke up every
morning, it knew how and where to find its Breakfast. That's more or less all it
needed to know.
Anyway, I found the article interesting - hope others do
too.
Denis Wilson
"The
Nature of Robertson"
www.peonyden.blogspot.com.au