Longevity lists were in the 1970s compiled by W. Rydzewski and published several times in the journal THE RING. These lists were the basis for updated lists published by Roland Staav in EURING Newsletters in 1998 and 2001. The list has successively been updated during recent years, but there are still many recoveries of old birds hidden in the archives of the ringing schemes.
Birds ringed as full-grown or adults have been included with a minimum age based on age at ringing (start of year set to 1st of July) and in those recoveries are age preceded by a >.
The plan is to include the two oldest individuals of a species in the list and the minimum age for a recovery to be included is five years. Recoveries of birds in the list where ring number and details are not included are published in atlases by those schemes.
All schemes are kindly requested to support updates of this list. New longevity records (either oldest or second oldest) should be sent to the bird ringing centre at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm by email.
Download the most recent version of the longevity list compiled in September 2023 here: Longevity list September 2023
