birdnote q&a: how long do birds live, and do they really mate for life?

THE FOURTH INSTALLMENT in my series of answers to your bird questions centers on bird lifestyles: Do birds really mate for life, and how long do they live? Ellen Blackstone of BirdNote, the daily public-radio show, will once again be our guide for exploring what’s going on as we look skyward.

Before we get started, the BirdNote backstory: In 2002, the then-executive director of Seattle Audubon heard a short public-radio show called StarDate. “We could do that with birds,” she thought. In 2005 the idea became a two-minute, seven-day-a-week public-radio “interstitial” (short program) that recently caught my ear. I asked BirdNote to help answer the recent questions you had asked me. (In case you missed installment 1, we tackled How do birds make themselves at home—even in winter? Week 2 was about birds on the move: the miracle of hummingbird migration, and on flying in formation. Week 3: on daring behavior, such as when a mob of small birds chase after a bigger one, or a woodpecker drums on my house.)

Parts of Ellen’s answers below are in 2-minute audio clips to stream (all in the green links–or you can read the transcripts at those links if you prefer):

Q. How long do birds live? Can you give some examples that hint at their lifespans?

A. According to Roger Lederer, retired professor of Biological Sciences at California State University, Chico: “Albatrosses, terns, penguins and some other seabirds seem to live 30-50 years, eagles 20-25 years, hawks 8-20 years. Most songbirds might live 8-12 years, hummingbirds 6-8 years, and warblers 3-6 years. Some individual records of known longevity of wild birds are: American Crow 15 years, American Robin 12 years, Barn Swallow 16 years, American Coot 19 years, Golden Eagle 25 years,

greening birds Nature bird sh-t Ellen Blackstone Usa state California