lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond) (06/14/91)
How long do these birds we see every day live? I regularly see Anna's Hummingbirds, Hose Finches, House Sparrows, Towhees, Scrub Jays, (er...that's House Finches, above), White- and Gold-Crowned Sparrows, and occasional Flicker, Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch. Anyone know lifespans? And what's always in your neighborhood, and how long do they live?
marcone@math.psu.edu (Alberto G. Marcone) (06/16/91)
In article <25444@well.sf.ca.us> lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond) writes: > >How long do these birds we see every day live? >I regularly see Anna's Hummingbirds, Hose Finches, House Sparrows, Towhees, >Scrub Jays, (er...that's House Finches, above), White- and Gold-Crowned >Sparrows, and occasional Flicker, Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, American >Goldfinch. > >Anyone know lifespans? And what's always in your neighborhood, and how long >do they live? A guide to European birds I borrowed from the library gives lifespans for most of the birds: for the House Sparrow the maximum age is given as 12 years, for the European (=Bohemian) Waxwing it is given as 13 years, for the starling 20 years and so on. I guess these data depends very much on how much a single species has been studied so that uncommon birds are likely to have lower 'lifespans' for lack of study.. For some birds the same guide gives also the percentage of adult birds which survive from one year to the next; this ranges from 30% for the blue tit (a chickadee-like bird) to 95% for the fulmar (whose maximum age is given at 34 years). The guide is: C. Perrins, New generation guide to birds of Britain and Europe, University of Texas Press Alberto Marcone marcone@math.psu.edu