I usually look a species up in the Encyclopedia of North American
Birds (Terres) or Kenn Kaufman's Lives of North American Birds in
order to find longevity. (It isn't always there.)

As for beak wiping, I think it is almost always to clean the beak
after eating. Birds don't mark their territories with scent (songbirds
mark it with song). Very few birds use scent or their sense of
smell in any significant way. Forest vultures hunt by scent, and
I've heard that petrels find their burrows by scent.

Chris Maack
CMaack at compuserve.com

>
I've got a couple of basic questions for the members of the list. I've
never
read anything on life expectancy of various birds. Are there any
references
to that effect?

Another thing I've wondered about is the behavior of wiping the beak on a
branch. Is it only to clean the beak after eating or is there possibly a
scent that a bird leaves to mark its spot?

TIA for your comments.

Davey Schmidt<