Fernando, a Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus
roseus) of French origin seen at Santa Amalia (Badajoz
This post has been ready
for publication for several weeks. However, just by chance new information
about longevity in birds has been arriving, meaning that we have incorporated
this to make a post a little longer than usual, and hopefully even more interesting.
It is likely that our information is incomplete, representing as it does
recently available information gathered by a small group of enthusiasts. If someone has sightings in Extremadura of
older birds and would like to share their news, we would be delighted to
publish it here. None of this information would have been available at all
without the work of bird ringers and those birders who patiently read the codes
on rings and send the information through. To all of
those, a big thank you.
Ringing does
not only help the study of the movements of birds, but also provides
information of great value about various aspects of biology. How long a bird
can live, in other words its longevity, is one of these. For this we have
searched the modest but growing ringing
database of GOCE in order to determine the
oldest birds that we have seen in Extremadura, and then comparing this with
data published at both a European and global scale, some of which may not be
wholly reliable (Euring, HAGR).
The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus
roseus). Ring Y[HIF]. Named "Fernando". A male ringed in the Camargue
(France) on 3rd August 1979 and seen on the rice fields of Santa Amalia
(Badajoz) by Fernando Yuste and Isaac Outón on 17th March 2013, in its 35th calendar
year and 33 years, 7 months and 14 days
since being ringed. It is, by far, the
oldest bird that has been seen in Extremadura, as far as we know. During
its lifetime, it has been seen many times, so many observations in fact that it
could fill four pages of notes. We know that it has bred in its place of origin
in the Camargue (1987, 1991, 1992 and 2009) as well as
in the colony near Malaga Toledo La Albuera
in September 2013 in
its 18th calendar year (José A. Román). Ringing of flamingos started in France
Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia). Rings W[D]
/ W[S]a. This bird was marked as a nestling in Holland 2012 in its 25th calendar year having passed 24
years and 3.5 months since being ringed. It is a male that had lost one of
its rings, as can be seen in the photo, and thus could not be identified
between 1994 and 2002. During its first two years there were sightings in the
United Kingdom (from 12-10 to 18-11-08 and from 26-06 to 20-09-89), Algarve,
Portugal (15 and 19-10-89) and Doñana (8 to 15-03-90), and in Holland on
16-07-90. Afterwards it was seen during several years in Huelva
on autumn migration, once in December and in Holland America
Lesser Black-backed Gull
(Larus fuscus). Ring
B[PC]. Ringed as a nestling in Bristol (UK) on 4th July 1989. There were no further records
until October 2013 when Marc Gálvez and José Guerra saw it on Mérida refuse tip [read more]. Therefore it is a bird in its 25th calendar year, having passed 24 years and three
months since being ringed. As can
be seen from the photo, the ring is now in poor condition. The maximum age known
for this species in the world was one of 34 years and 10 months, also from the UK
Common Crane (Grus
grus). Ring a/NYB. A bird ringed as a juvenile on passage at Gallocanta
(Aragón) in 1988 and seen by Manolo Gómez Calzado in Vegas Altas del Guadiana
(Extremadura) on several occasions since 2003. In January 2009 and
October 2011 it was accompanied by its mate, but without young. It is therefore
a bird of its 24th calendar year and with more than 22 years of age [read
more]. This bird exceeds the record
of the oldest according to Euring for Europe, which cites a Swedish bird of
20 years and three months of age, although both are far from the record achieved
by a bird of the eastern race (lilfordi) which reached 41 years old in
the wild. In Extremadura we have another record of a crane in its 20th
calendar year, hatched in Germany
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). Ring G[J]. Female called Gabriela hatched
in Scotland in 1991 (photo: Roy Dennis), where it has bred since1996, and has wintered, at least since 2000, at
the Gabriel y Galán Reservoir (Cáceres), where it is currently present
(November 2013; Jesús Montero. César Clemente, S. Mayordomo, J. Prieta). It is therefore a bird in its 23th calendar year
and more than 22 years old. This bird perhaps merits its own post, since it
has been tracked for three seasons by satellite, as have one of its mates and
some of its young (all have wintered in Africa ).
One of its descendents is also part of an introduction project that has started
in Urdaibai (Vizcaya). The oldest Osprey known is one of 32 years old in North
America and in Europe one of 26 years and 11 months in Finland
White Stork (Ciconia
ciconia). Ring W[F|FS]. Hatched
in a nest in Trujillo (Cáceres), where it was ringed on 6th June 1989, and has
been seen twice nesting in a clump of
pines at Monroy (Cáceres), with records almost twenty
years apart: on 12th April 1992 (I. Ludwichowst) and on 1st April 2010 (Juan
Manuel Domínguez –photo-). Who
knows if it is still there (if
anyone is encouraged to look for it, the colony is beside the Cáceres -Torrejón
el Rubio-Monfragüe road). It was in its 22nd calendar year and 21 years and
10 months since being ringed. It was also seen in January 2002 at a refuse tip
at Cádiz and in January 2003 en the rubbish tip at Dos
Hermanas (Seville Switzerland
Black
Stork (Ciconia nigra). Ring W[C|HN]. Here
we are talking about the dearly loved Choni, subject of one of the
most popular posts in this blog [readmore]. Hatched in Oliva de Plasencia (Cáceres) in 1990, it occupied one of
the most visible nests in Monfragüe for 18 years, successfully raising
46 young. It was seen for the last time in the summer of 2011, in its 22nd calendar
year and with more 21 years and 3 months since being ringed, it could be the longest lived Black Stork in
the world. There is a published record of a bird of 18 years and 7 months from Poland
The seven cases above are
the only ones citing birds of more than 20 years old in Extremadura. Examples of birds of great age, but less than 20
years old we have the following:
- Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax
carbo). A 17 year old bird in Badajoz
- Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon
nilotica). In the GOCE database we
only have records of four birds, with ages of 11, 11, 13 and 16 calendar years
(the last has 14 years and 10
months since ringing; see the blog of Atanasio Fernández). This is a high average, given that the oldest of
this species ever recorded is one of 15 years and 9 months from Denmark
- Greylag Goose (Anser
anser). Birds of more than 11 and 13 calendar
years (marked as adults) have been seen on the Portaje Reservoir (S. Mayordomo ) and Valdesalor Reservoir (Carlos
Fernández). The oldest in captivity in the world was 31 years old, although a wild
Pink-footed Goose has reached 41 years old.
A few days ago news came out about a House
Martin (Delichon urbicum) ringed in Badajoz city in 2005 and found dead in a pellet of a Tawny Owl,
collected just 400 metres
from the site of ringing, eight years later. The site could not have been
any other since Badajoz is where House Martins
have been more closely studied than almost anywhere and it is where more House
Martins have been ringed and controlled than anywhere else in Spain la Cruz ). This becomes the longest-lived of this species in Spain (there are two cases of seven-year old
birds); although in Sweden
And since we have embarked on this saga,
let’s continue: what are the longest
living birds in the wild? At the global level, there is a female Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria
immutabilis), called Wisdom,
which is still alive and is breeding in Midway (Hawaii ,
USA
In Europe ,
the
longest-lived bird we have come across is a Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) of more than 50 years
and 11 months old (trapped as
an adult). The following is a Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) of more than
45 years and three months, a Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) of more than 43
years and 11 months and an Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) of 43
years and 4 months. As one can see, seabirds, waterfowl and waders can reach
great age, but also raptors (Golden Eagle 32 years, Eagle Owl 27 years) and
even smaller birds like Alpine Swift (26 years) and passerines (Raven 23 years,
Common Starling 23 years).
In captivity, it is difficult to find out about the oldest bird. We have found a
scientific publication on longevity in parrots that cites a Salmon-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) of no less than
92 years old. There is a Greater Flamingo in a zoo in Adelaide
(Australia Chicago
