• Pohl@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    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!

    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      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).