No longer the oldest bird in town!

 

 

Birders across the world were flabbergasted to hear the bird was almost double the age of the previous record for its species, and in human equivalents it would have been 200 years old and still breeding!

 

However, further research now suggests the data was probably misread and the bird spotted in a forest near Clocaenog now appears to be aged only two.

 

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) explained why it was important to be sure.

 

“Much of the work the BTO carries out is reliant on data of the very highest quality, so for such an important record as this it is essential that all the details are accurate,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

 

“Data from ringing projects such as this are used to monitor trends in productivity, recruitment and survival of some of our declining migrant birds.”

 

Each ring carries a return address and the unique number that identifies the bird, meaning that the digits are rather small.

 

“In this particular case, it is likely that the ring number of this bird was X797616 instead of K797616 as originally recorded,” he said. “In a bizarre coincidence, both of these rings were put on Welsh pied flycatchers, hence the confusion, but X797616 is only two years old rather than 16.”

 

However, he explained that while “we can't be certain that a single misread digit is the correct explanation” it is the “likeliest explanation”.