Ever wonder just how long a Red-tailed Hawk can survive in the wild? How about 27+ years? A bird recently captured in rural upstate New York and currently being rehabbed was banded at the age of six or seven months back in October of 1983! The New York Times has the story.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
That’s amazing! So can we assume that some birds live to be like 40 or 50 or more?
We know of a 37 year old Oystercatcher in the UK and we have had a 27+ Bar tailed Godwit here in Broome-that’s a lot of miles in migration that it would have done! Kakapo in New Zealand are expected to live a very long time, though they are VERY endangered.
My neighbor had a Macaw that was over 40-50 years old but it was taken care of very well by her family. Her grandmother originally owned the bird. When you buy a bird you have to be prepared to care for it for a long long time.