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Re: Leucistic Cardinal
- To: Beachisle@aol.com
- Subject: Re: Leucistic Cardinal
- From: Chris Hill <chill@kingfish.coastal.edu>
- Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 11:41:52 -0400 (EDT)
- cc: carolinabirds@duke.edu, giffbeaton@mindspring.com, blsmith@awod.com
- In-Reply-To: <29.157544cd.2843b250@aol.com>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
On Mon, 28 May 2001 Beachisle@aol.com wrote:
>
> Yesterday (29 May 2001) our Leucistic Cardinal returned to our feeders for
> the third consecutive year. First appeared on 9 June 1999.
>
> We feel that this is an unusual length of time for a bird of this type to
> survive. Would anyone care to comment?
The longevity record for a banded cardinal in the wild is 15 years, 9
months (see http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/homepage/longvrec.htm).
However, that's obviously not typical. It's not unusual for smaller birds
like song sparrows to reach 4 and 5 years old. I would guess it's not
unusual for Cardinals to hit 6 or 7 in the wild.
On another, semi-related note, I recently became foster parent to an
individual of one of the most beautiful of local bird species, the only
one that combines that beauty with exceptional intelligence and
personality. I refer, of course to a European Starling. Another Starling
that was a research subject in a lab I formerly worked in stayed on as a
pensioner/pet, and is now 18 years old! This particular individual is in
definite decline, but still, don't unerestimate the ability of birds, even
small ones, to survive a long time. A banded wild Mourning Dove lived
over 31 years. Makes you think twice when you look up at that bird sitting
on the wire.
Chris Hill
Conway, SC