Earlier this week an Arctic Tern that was banded in 1980 was sighted in the UK. Over 30 years old, this bird, known as CE60645 (this is the code that appears on its leg band) has become the UK's oldest living Arctic Tern. Although 30 years may seem old for such a small bird (Arctic Terns weigh only 100 grams), an Arctic Tern has been documented in the US that is 34 years old! Surprisingly, the Arctic Tern's longevity isn't it's most impressive attribute. These birds migrate from the top of the North Atlantic to the Antarctic and back each year, traveling over 44,000 miles total! The Arctic Tern has the longest known annual migration of any animal on the planet!
That IS interesting. I was lucky to see these guys nesting near Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, AK last year (but couldn't get close enough to get good images). It's amazing to me that those little guys live so long and travel so far.
Thanks for this Chantelle. I'll add a bit of information (I'm a seabird biologist).
Seabirds are like tiny elephants- they live a long time and reproduce very slowly. The minimum number of eggs a bird can lay in one year is 1 (if it's an annual breeder) and many of the 300+ species of seabirds lay just one egg per year. Arctic Terns typically lay 1-2 eggs per year so they are not quite as extreme. Contrast this to a duck or forest bird which may lay 5-10 eggs in a single clutch, and repeat this more than once per breeding season. Animals and plants trade-off longevity with fecundity (breeding output) because producing young and parental investment is costly, and the cost is a shorter life. Big animals tend to live longer than smaller ones, and some very small seabirds are even more extreme than the Arctic Tern. Storm-Petrels are about the size of a sparrow or robin, lay just one egg per year, but live to 30, 40, even 50 years +. Albatrosses probably can live into their 60s and older, but they are very big birds.
A colleague of mine has done some great work on Arctic Tern migration using "geo-loggers". Have a look at Carsten's web site which tells all about this amazing study:
Little Bird with a Long Life and a Long Journey
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