The average lifespan for wild passerine birds is probably a lot longer than 3 yrs.
In general, birds live a weirdly long time. Banding studies show us song birds that have lived up to 15yrs or so. Assuming they make it to adulthood, a cardinal can probably expect to live 6-8 yrs but that is a wild guess since it’s almost impossible for us to really measure that.
Anyway, that’s enough zoology time, back to the memes!
Some parrots can have very long lifespans. Like if you wait until you’re 30 to get one, your bird might outlive you.
Pretty much this. The average gets dragged down by a HIGH infant mortality rate - nest predators from snakes to raccoons to hawks and vultures kill a lot of hatchlings, as well as things like simple accidents (falling out of a tree, for instance).
Their lifespan got carried over from when they were dinosaurs
On average, Northern Cardinals live for 3 years in the wild but they can grow as old as 15 years. The average lifespan in captivity is longer with the record set at over 28 years.
Source: https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/how-long-do-cardinals-live/
I wonder if that’s similar to pre-industrial human lifespans where it’s heavily skewed by infant mortality rates.
