On average, our common garden birds  live between 2 -5 years. Favourite species that we regularly see may indeed be returning visitors for a few years to our well stocked bird table!

     Blue Tit: Richard Bowler (rspb-images.com) & Long Tailed Tit: Malcolm Hunt (rspb-images.com)

Looking at the UK top ten garden birds for 2020, these are the average life spans given by the British Trust of Ornithology:

Sparrow:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Starling:      5 years with breeding typically at 2 years

Blue tit:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Wood pigeon:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Blackbird:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Goldfinch:      2 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Great tit:      years with breeding typically at 1 year

Robin:      2 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Long tailed tit:      2 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Magpie:      5 years with breeding typically at 2 years

 

Somewhat fascinated by the similarity of lifespans in these little birds, I searched also for some of my own favourite species to see what theirs were:

Kingfisher:      2 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Skylark:      2 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Mallard duck:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Collard Dove:      3 years with breeding typically at 1 year

 

Kestrel:      4 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Sparrowhawk:      4 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Nightjar:     4 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Tawny owl:      4 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Bittern:      4 years with breeding typically at 1 year

Grey heron:      5 years with breeding typically at 2 years

 

Mute swan:      10 years with breeding typically at 4 years

Buzzard:      12 years with breeding typically at 3 years

Golden eagle:      23 years with breeding typically at 4 years

I was interested to learn that just because a bird is bigger, e.g.: Collard Dove / Tawny owl or is a bird of prey like a Kestrel or Sparrow hawk, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it lives a longer life. A part of me expected that it would for some reason.

So when the times comes, what do birds die from? Well, a small number will live out their full life and die naturally in a nest or secluded place out of sight, but unfortunately there are so many factors that could end a bird’s life like freezing and starving in prolonged cold weather, accidents and collisions with human structures and traffic and predators such as birds of prey, cats and foxes. Bodies of birds decompose within a matter of days but usually a scavenger will have consumed what's left of them which is why we rarely see dead birds around the garden and landscape.

There's lots we can do to help birds especially through the winter including putting out energy rich supplementary food like sunflower hearts and fat balls, blocks and pellets, keeping birds feeders clean and out of reach of cats plus offering fresh water. The Big Garden Birdwatch starts this coming Friday 29th January so is a great time to get the feeders cleaned and stocked up and hope that while watching our regular garden visitors, we can also help them to live their longest life.


The Flatford Wildlife Garden is now closed for the rest of the winter season. Details of re-opening in Spring 2021 will be posted on this blog and the Flatford Wildlife Garden We­­­bsite.