fall off one's perch

A darkly comic British and Australian idiom for dying — specifically the kind of sudden or unexpected death you might not see coming. The image comes from a bird dropping off its perch, lifeless. It's used with dry humour, which is very much in keeping with how English-speaking cultures often approach death — sideways, with a wink. You might hear it about someone who's very old, very unhealthy, or doing something reckless. Blunt but somehow never cruel.