Birds set lifespan records

DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, July 10 (UPI) -- A 41-year-old razorbill is among a record number of tough old birds found living longer than scientists thought, a British bird-study group said.

The razorbill, generally thought to have lived to about 13 years, was ringed in 1965 as a chick born on a cliff ledge on Bardsey Island in Gwynedd, north Wales, the British Trust for Ornithology said.

It was found last year when it returned to the island, said the trust, which studies birds in the British Isles.

Among other old birds the trust identified from rings fitted on their legs as chicks was a barn owl that died in 2007 at age 13, beating the species record by five months, and a curlew found breeding in northwest Germany at age 31, the trust said. That bird on average lives about 5 years but one bird previously was found at a record age of 29.

Other species found to have reached record ages include a turnstone, 20; a black-headed gull and a Canada goose, both 27; and a lesser whitethroat, age 7, the trust said.

"Some of these birds were way over the normal life expectancy and are quite incredible," trust spokesman Paul Stancliffe told The Times of London.

"The razorbill looks pretty much exactly the same as it did in its first year," Stancliffe said, noting the bird replaces its feathers every year.

"They don't suffer from wrinkles," he added.