Parrot Age Calculator

A 3-year-old budgerigar is about 36 in human years, a young adult

There is no official chart for converting parrot years to human years. We found none in avian veterinary references, and rules of thumb such as "parrot age × 7" or "small × 9, medium × 4, large × 1.8" that circulate online do not say how they were made. Parrots also differ enormously in lifespan from one species to the next: the longest known record is 29 years 2 months for a budgerigar and 73 years for a Galah. This calculator instead takes three checkable milestones for each species, matches them to the same points in a human life, and joins them with straight lines to estimate human age. The age of sexual maturity, when a bird can first breed, is matched to puberty, using 12.5 years, the average age at first period reported by US women (CDC National Center for Health Statistics). The age the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) considers geriatric is matched to human age 65, and the longest known record for the species is matched to the longest human lifespan on record, 122 years 164 days.

By this method a 3-year-old budgerigar is about 36 in human years, a young adult who is 4 months away from middle age (human age 40). At the same 3 years, a Cockatiel comes out at about 23, an African Grey Parrot at about 8 and a Blue-and-yellow Macaw at about 6. On the dial of the calculator above, the outer numbers are human age and the inner numbers are the age of the chosen parrot, so dragging the handle shows how the two ages line up. The species buttons show the human age of every species for the same age.

When it helps to convert a parrot's age to human years

• Deciding when to start senior care: the AAV recommends checkups every 6 months, not once a year, for parrots that have reached the geriatric stage. A budgerigar is considered geriatric after 6 years, an African Grey after 15 and a Blue-and-yellow Macaw after 30, so the same "10 years old" means different checkup schedules.
• Judging the age of a bird you are adopting: a 10-year-old budgerigar is about 75 in human years, but a 10-year-old African Grey is about 39. The age alone does not tell you how much time you are likely to have together.
• Planning for a long-lived species: the Galah, African Grey, Blue-fronted Amazon and Blue-and-yellow Macaw have longest known records of 49 to 73 years. In human terms it is easier to see where a bird is in its life and how many years remain before it is considered geriatric.
• Explaining a bird's age to family: saying "a young adult in human terms" helps relatives and children who are new to parrots understand the age of the bird.

How it is calculated

1. Three milestones per species: (age of sexual maturity, human 12.5), (age the AAV considers geriatric, human 65) and (longest known record, human 122 years 164 days = 122.45), plus hatching at (0, 0), give four points that are joined by straight lines.
2. Age of sexual maturity: the midpoint of the range in the LafeberVet basic information sheets, a veterinary reference (Cockatiel and Rosy-faced Lovebird 6–12 months → 9 months, African Grey and Amazons 4–6 years → 5 years, large cockatoos 5–6 years → 5 years 6 months, large macaws 5–7 years → 6 years). For the budgerigar (180 days) and the Galah (363 days), which have no species value there, it is the female sexual maturity age in the AnAge database.
3. Geriatric age ↔ human 65: the AAV treats the age at which age-related diseases begin to be reported in a species as geriatric and lists the value for 8 species in its Table 1. Matching it to 65, the age commonly taken as the start of old age in people, means the old-age stage of this calculator begins around the age the AAV considers geriatric.
4. Longest known record ↔ 122 years 164 days: the longest of the AAV Table 1, the zoo records of Young et al. (2012), AnAge and Guinness World Records. Past the record, the slope of the last segment is extended and shown as "Beyond the record"; calculation stops at the record plus 2 years.
5. Worked example: a budgerigar of 3 years (36 months) lies between sexual maturity (6 months) and the geriatric age (72 months), so human age = 12.5 + (36 − 6) ÷ (72 − 6) × (65 − 12.5) = 36.36, which rounds to about 36.

There is a reason the median life expectancy in captivity is not matched to human life expectancy. Most of the medians in the AAV table are shorter than the geriatric age (African Grey 9 years < geriatric 15 years, Blue-and-yellow Macaw 21 years < geriatric 30 years). That means at least half of the captive birds die before reaching the geriatric stage, so matching the median to human life expectancy would put the start of old age after the end of the expected life. The median is therefore not used in the calculation and is shown only as a reference value.

Reference values by species

The values used for each species, with their sources. The geriatric age and the median life expectancy in captivity both come from Table 1 of the AAV.

The longest captive records in AAV Table 1 are 18 years for the budgerigar, 25 for the lovebird, 35 for the Cockatiel, 48 for the African Grey, 32 for the White Cockatoo and 38 for the Blue-fronted Amazon. This calculator uses a longer record whenever another source has one for the same species. For the budgerigar, for example, it uses Charlie in the UK, confirmed by Guinness (born April 1948, died June 1977, 29 years 2 months).

Values were checked against the original sources on October 23, 2026 (2026-10-23). Weights are adult averages from AnAge. The lovebird values are for Agapornis roseicollis, so other lovebirds of the same genus may differ. The Budgerigar is also called budgie, the Rosy-faced Lovebird Peach-faced Lovebird, the Galah Rose-breasted Cockatoo, the White Cockatoo Umbrella Cockatoo, the Blue-fronted Amazon Turquoise-fronted Amazon and the Blue-and-yellow Macaw Blue-and-gold Macaw.

Human age by parrot age

Human age for eight species at each parrot age. Values in parentheses are stretched past the longest known record, and "–" is outside the calculation range (record plus 2 years).

Large parrots mature late, at 4 to 7 years, so their first few years come out low in human terms. The budgerigar, lovebird and Cockatiel, by contrast, can breed within a year, so in their first year they are already past human puberty.

"Lives 50 years" versus real lifespans in captivity

• The longest record is not life expectancy: the AAV explains that the expectation of large parrots living past 50 years is widespread, but treating the longest record as life expectancy is a common misconception and most companion parrots do not live to 50.
• The median life expectancy in captivity is shorter than you might think: the medians in AAV Table 1 are 5.5 years for the budgerigar, 9 for the Cockatiel, 9 for the African Grey and 21 for the Blue-and-yellow Macaw. A median means half of the captive birds live longer than that.
• Lifespans in captivity are shorter than in the wild: the AAV notes that wild parrots have been reported to live longer than captive ones. The wild medians in the same table are 7 to 15 years for the budgerigar, 23 for the African Grey and 35 to 43 for the Blue-and-yellow Macaw.
• Zoo records show the same pattern: Young et al. (2012) analyzed 260 parrot species from international zoo records (ISIS) and reported that some individuals live remarkably long, but median lifespans are often shorter than commonly believed. The longest record was 92 years for a Salmon-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), and only 11 other species had a longest record above 50 years.
• What changes lifespan: besides species, the AAV says diet, genetics, stress and exercise strongly affect aging and life expectancy. High-fat food such as a seed-based diet and a sedentary life raise the risk of atherosclerosis.

Caring for a senior parrot

The AAV lists atherosclerosis, tumors, liver disease, cataracts, osteoarthritis and age-related cognitive decline as common in geriatric parrots. African Greys and Amazons are especially prone to atherosclerosis after 25 years, and so are Cockatiels as they age, cataracts are not unusual in macaws over 35 years, and osteoarthritis is more common in parrots over 15 years.

• Checkups: once a bird is geriatric, schedule a checkup every 6 months, and talk to a vet if drinking, droppings, eating habits or feather care change.
• Diet: a low-fat pelleted diet with vegetables and fruit rich in antioxidants helps slow atherosclerosis and degenerative changes in the brain and liver.
• Exercise: let birds that can fly do so, and let those that cannot climb and walk. Foraging boxes placed in several spots in the cage also add exercise.
• Environment: if the legs or feet are weak or painful, change the thickness and texture of the perches or use padded perches. For a bird with poor eyesight, avoid moving the perches and the food and water dishes.

Common mistakes

• Using one multiplier for every species: "× 7" or size-based multipliers ignore the different maturity ages and lifespans of each species. At the same 10 years, a budgerigar is about 75 and a Blue-and-yellow Macaw about 21.
• Choosing by body size alone: the White Cockatoo (about 570 g) has a longest record of 32 years 2 months, while the smaller Galah (about 300 g) has 73 years. Lifespan differs by species even at similar sizes, so pick the same species from the list.
• Reading the longest record as "how long they usually live": the longest record is a single bird that lived the longest. A typical lifespan is closer to the median life expectancy in captivity.
• Counting age in months and converting it to years wrongly: 40 months is 3 years 4 months. The calculator takes years and months separately, so if a sale record gives months, divide by 12 and enter the quotient as years and the remainder as months.
• Entering a random age for a bird of unknown age: if the leg band shows a hatch year or the adoption record is kept, count the age from that year. If neither exists, enter the age estimated by a vet and treat the result as rough as well.

Limits and cautions

• There is no official chart, so the result is an estimate that joins the milestones with straight lines. Real aging does not follow a straight line, and individuals of the same species differ.
• The age of sexual maturity is the midpoint of a range, so a real bird can mature a few months or even 1 to 2 years earlier or later. The Amazon, macaw and cockatoo values cover the whole group.
• Sources record longest lifespans in different ways. Young et al. (2012) note that the accuracy of zoo records (ISIS) varies between institutions, and the Guinness record is a single companion budgerigar.
• Only the 8 species with a geriatric age in AAV Table 1 are included. Species missing from that table, such as conures or Quaker parakeets, have no value on the same basis, so they are not calculated.
• The human puberty milestone is the average age at first period of US women, 12.5 years (women aged 15–44 surveyed in 2013–2017; the median in that survey was 11.9). Because it comes from women only, it serves as a rough marker for puberty.
• This result is not a medical diagnosis. If you are worried about a bird's condition, consult a veterinarian who treats birds.

Sources

• 01Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) — Care for Senior Parrots (2022)Table 1: median wild lifespan, median life expectancy in captivity, longest captive record and geriatric age for 8 species; common diseases and care in geriatric parrots; checkups every 6 months in old age — checked 2026-10-23
• 02Young AM, Hobson EA, Lackey LB, Wright TF. Survival on the ark: life-history trends in captive parrots. Animal Conservation 15(1): 28–53, 2012Table 2: longest lifespans of 260 species in ISIS records (Rosy-faced Lovebird 34.1 years, Cockatiel 35.92, White Cockatoo 32.24 and others), the 92 years of the Salmon-crested Cockatoo, limits of data accuracy
• 03AnAge (Human Ageing Genomic Resources) Build 15 — parrot entriesFemale sexual maturity (budgerigar 180 days, Galah 363 days, White Cockatoo 2000 days), maximum longevity (African Grey 49.7 years, Blue-fronted Amazon 49 years, captive), adult weight
• 04LafeberVet — Basic Information Sheets (African Grey, Amazons, macaws, Cockatiel, lovebirds, cockatoos)Sexual maturity: African Grey 4–6 years, Amazons 4–6 years, large macaws 5–7 years, large cockatoos 5–6 years, Cockatiel and lovebirds 6–12 months — checked 2026-10-23
• 05Guinness World Records — Oldest budgerigar in captivityCharlie (London, UK), born April 1948, died on 1977-06-20 at 29 years 2 months
• 06Guinness World Records — Oldest person everJeanne Louise Calment (France), 122 years 164 days, died on 1997-08-04
• 07CDC National Center for Health Statistics — Trends and Patterns in Menarche in the United States: 1995 through 2013–2017 (National Health Statistics Reports No. 146)Mean age at menarche 12.5 years and median 11.9 years among women aged 15–44, National Survey of Family Growth 2013–2017, published Sep 10, 2020 — checked 2026-10-11

Frequently asked questions

Tools to use together