Mortality of reed warblers in jersey

Abstract

Between 1951 and 1970, 3,663 Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus were ringed either on migration or in the breeding colony at the Jersey Bird Observatory. 388 were trapped in one or more subsequent seasons, providing data from which mortality rates were deduced. Adults suffered a 44% annual mortality and juveniles 76% between ringing and their second summer. Details of individual life-spans are presented, and are consistent with the calculated mortality rates. The Reed Warbler is exceptionally longlived compared with other small British passerines both resident and migrant. © 1975 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.