A 20-year-old tawny owl has been discovered near Kielder Castle Visitor Centre, Northumberland.
The mother of four chicks has already doubled the average life expectancy of wild female tawnies in the North East.
Brian Little, one of the leaders of the long running Kielder tawny owls project, said: "It's incredible to find tawnies of this age.
"She'll need to keep Father Time at bay for another couple of seasons to notch the oldest tawny owl record."
Brian continued: "But with plenty of food around like voles you wouldn't put it past her."
According to The British Trust for Ornithology the average life expectancy for wild tawny owls is four years and the oldest recorded bird was 21-years-old and five months.
However, experts at Kielder say the average lifespan for wild tawnies in the North East is 10 years and therefore the latest discovery has doubled its average life expectancy.
Missing
The tawny owl project in Kielder Forest has been running for 30 years - the longest running study of its kind in the UK - and initially attached a ring to the owl when she was a chick in 1990.
She had babies when she was just one year old in one of the 230 nesting boxes erected by the Forestry Commission.
She then went missing for seven years before returning to the same box.
Record-breaking
The 21-year-old tawny owl
Boudica gave birth to a chick when she was 21
A record-breaking tawny owl astounded experts by becoming a mother again at the ripe old age of 21 in 2008.
Named Boudica, she became the oldest known UK tawny owl living in the wild if she had survived for a few more months after she was discovered.
Although it is believed she passed that milestone judging by evidence found in her nesting box in Kershope, Cumbria - part of Kielder Forest - she then vanished before she could be caught again to establish refutable proof.
Brian said: "Everyone was gutted by the death of Boudica, but to find a bird almost as old is real consolation."
Boudica gave birth to a chick when she was 21
