Life Expectancy of Birds
Live long and prosper. For small songbirds, that might be seven years!
A songbird in the wild has less than a 50% chance of surviving more than two years. However, if a young bird can survive accidents, disease, predation, migration, and winter starvation, it may live a surprisingly long time.
As a general rule, larger birds tend to live longer. It also helps to be at the top of the food chain.
A Laysan Albatross has survived 42 years and 5 months in the wild. Parrots in captivity have been known to live over 80 years!
Here are some of the records for longevity. These are certainly not average life expectancy -- these are the all time records! These figures are based on the recapture of banded birds. The life of the bird at the time of death is shown in years and months:
| Common Loon | 12-11 |
| Laysan Albatross | 42-05 |
| Brown Pelican | 27-10 |
| Anhinga | 11-11 |
| Great Blue Heron | 23-03 |
| Green Heron | 07-11 |
| Mute Swan | 26-09 |
| Canada Goose | 28-05 |
| Mallard | 26-04 |
| Osprey | 26-02 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 25-09 |
| American Kestrel | 13-07 |
| Northern Bobwhite | 06-05 |
| Whooping Crane | 18-10 |
| Killdeer | 10-11 |
| Herring Gull | 28-00 |
| Common Tern | 25-00 |
| Elf Owl | 04-11 |
| Great Horned Owl | 27-07 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 09-01 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 11-11 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 15-10 |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 10-00 |
| Blue Jay | 17-06 |
| American Crow | 14-07 |
| Purple Martin | 13-09 |
| Carolina Chickadee | 10-11 |
| House Wren | 09-00 |
| Eastern Bluebird | 10-05 |
| Western Bluebird | 05-01 |
| American Robin | 13-11 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 14-10 |
| Yellow Warbler | 09-11 |
| Song Sparrow | 11-04 |
| Northern Cardinal | 15-09 |
| Western Meadowlark | 06-06 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 15-09 |
| House Sparrow | 13-04 |
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