Longevity Records of North American Birds: Gaviidae through Alcidae

Abstract

A list of longevity records of North American birds was published by Kennard (1975).This list was compiled by starting with the lists published by Gill (1945Gill ( , 1946)), reviewing subsequent literature, adding reports received in response to requests published in regional banding publications, and using somewhat incomplete data from Rydzewski's (1962, 1963, 1973) lists in The Ring.Following Kennard's publication, Kennard received a great deal of correspondence giving additional data and correcting entries in the 1975 list and found more information in recent literature.In the meantime Clapp searched further into the literature, including all volumes of Bird-Banding, and found original references to records quoted from EBBA News and The Ring as well as some records that had been missed in Kennard's paper.Clapp also searched the August 1978 Recovery Retrieval File, a microfiche list of recoveries in the Bird Banding Laboratory (hereafter BBL), and discovered many unpublished longevity records greater than those in the 1975 list as well as a considerable number of longevity records for species not included there.Both Clapp and Klimkiewicz, aided by members of the staffs of the BBL and the Ecology Section of the Denver Wildlife Research Center, verified records from the literature and the microfiche by checking the original banding schedules and recovery letters.Clapp and Klimkiewicz also searched through subsequent microfiche files so that the records presented here would be as complete as possible, and current through material processed at the BBL through December 1981.Originally we had intended to include only corrections or emendations of earlier reports, greater longevity records for species listed in the first paper, or species for which no longevity record was previously given.As we neared completion of the manuscript it became evident that few entries from Kennard's paper would remain unchanged; therefore, we thought it best to include all species listed in the original paper so that the reader would have easy access to current information on the longevity of all North American and central Pacific species.The records for two species (American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, and Purple Gallinule, Porphyrula martinica) listed in the original paper proved to be invalid and are not included here.