Publication Date
12-1-2010
Abstract
Little information on longevity of wild bird species is available. Black-capped Vireos (Vireo atricapilla) have been banded and monitored at Fort Hood Military Reservation for23 years yielding considerable data on longevity of this species. Our goal was to summarize these data. We determined the distribution of expected longevities for vireos based on 16 cohorts of individuals banded at 1-year old. Individuals were short-lived. On average, 67% of individuals did not reach ages >1 year and only 3% reached ages 5 years. Mean age was 2.6 years. The greatest longevities were 12 and 9 years and all were males. These represent longevity records for the species. Age of the oldest female observed was 8 years. We captured relatively few females and color-banded females were difficult to observe. Consequently, females may reach greater ages than we observed. However, longevities we observed for males likely approximate longevity of the species in the wild because we banded over 9,000 individuals of this short-lived species and made considerable effort to recapture and re-sight them.
Creative Commons License
Recommended Citation
Cimprich, David A.; Strebe, Wayne G.; and Comolli, Kristin A.
(2010)
"Longevity of the Black-Capped Vireo,"
Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society: Vol. 43:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/tos_bulletin/vol43/iss1/8