Introduction / Non-passerines / Passerines / Weavers
Longevities of southern African birds – Introduction
Longevities of birds are fascinating! The data is usually obtained from long term ringing studies.
This page is the Introduction and there are 3 data tables with all the longevity records. The links are at the top of each page for easy navigation.
The tables show published longevities based on the SAFRING database. Some records from Roberts 7 are included but not finally checked (ie. some records may refer to captive birds, or to records from Europe).
Latest update:
Long-billed Crombec 9y 2m 22d (updated 14/03/2023)
Oldest lark – see tables (updated 9/08/2021)
Blogs:
Weaver longevities
Ibises and spoonbills, 2 Dec 2019
Cape Weaver, 13 Jan 2020
Longevities of shrikes, bush-shrikes and helmet-shrikes, 31 Jan 2020
Longevities of Cossypha robin-chats, 21 Feb 2020 (update 9/08/2021)
Longevities of sunbirds and sugarbirds, 16 Mar 2020
Longevities of cranes, 16 May 2020
Longevities of kingfishers, 24 May 2020
Longevities of Wattle-eyes and Batises, 1 April 2021 (update 9/08/2021)
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References used in tables:
Engelbrecht D. 2019. Happy 14th ringday to Mokgalaje the Shortclawed Lark. Lark 24:41.
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ, Ryan PG (eds). 2005. Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th ed. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
Paijmans D. 2015a. Longevity of the southern African white-eyes (Zosterops sp.). Promerops 301:13.
Paijmans D. 2015b. Longevity of the Hartlaub’s Gull (Larus hartlaubii). Promerops 302:21.
Paijmans D. 2015c. New Safring Longevity Record For The White-Breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus). Bee-eater 66(2):26.
Paijmans D. 2016. New SAFRING longevity record for the Crowned Lapwing (Vanellus coronatus). Laniarius 132:24-25.
Paijmans D. 2016. Methuselah. Lanioturdus 49(3):12-13.
Paijmans DM, Catto S, Oschadleus HD. 2017. SAFRING longevity and movement records for southern African vultures (subfamilies Aegypiinae and Gypaetinae). Ostrich 88(2):163-166.
Paijmans DM, Rose S, Oschadleus HD. 2019. Using large-scale citizen science ringing data as a means of calculating maximum longevity in birds. Bothalia 49(1):a2389.
Rose S. 2017. Maximum longevities and causes of death in kingfishers from SAFRING data. Biodiversity Observations 8.48: 1-4.
Rose SJ, Oschadleus HD, Paijmans D. 2019. How far and how old: Longevity and displacement records from the South African Bird Ringing Scheme for Ardeidae, Threskiornithidae and Ciconiidae. Bothalia 49(1):a2333.
Note: Extracting longevity records from SAFRING’s database requires some work. One needs to check each maximum record for errors, and also that the record is not “ring only found” – when only a ring is found without a carcass, the bird may have died many years previously.