In 1968, I was amazed to trap a Black-capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) I had banded more than 12 years previously.I tried to find in the literature longevity records for wild North American birds, and found this to be exceedingly difficult.Gcoffry Gill published a list in EBBA News (8(10):2, 1945), and this was followed by a "final list" in 1946 (9(3):3-4).In 1963 EBBA News (26:224-225) F. P. Frazier summarized 36 species previously published in The Ri•g, and Charles H. Blake estimated the extreme age of birds by families (26:223-224).Dr. Rydzewski, editor of The Ring, published a list of longevity records of birds of the world (Ring, $$:147-152, 1962), followed in 1963 (34:177-181) by a list of North American records.Recently in 1973, but not distributed until mid-1974, Dr. Rydzcwski published in The Ring (77:91-96) his latest list on longevity of North American birds.
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John Kennard (1975) studied this question.