Red-billed Chough
A species of Chough Scientific name : Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax Genus : Chough
Red-billed Chough, A species of Chough
Botanical name: Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Genus: Chough
Content
Description General Info
Description
The adult of the "nominate" subspecies of the red-billed chough, P. p. pyrrhocorax, is 39–40 centimetres (15–16 inches) in length, has a 73–90 centimetres (29–35 inches) wingspan, and weighs an average 310 grammes (10.9 oz). Its plumage is velvet-black, green-glossed on the body, and it has a long curved red bill and red legs. The sexes are similar (although adults can be sexed in the hand using a formula involving tarsus length and bill width) but the juvenile has an orange bill and pink legs until its first autumn, and less glossy plumage. The red-billed chough is unlikely to be confused with any other species of bird. Although the jackdaw and Alpine chough share its range, the jackdaw is smaller and has unglossed grey plumage, and the Alpine chough has a short yellow bill. Even in flight, the two choughs can be distinguished by Alpine's less rectangular wings, and longer, less square-ended tail. The red-billed chough's loud, ringing chee-ow call is clearer and louder than the similar vocalisation of the jackdaw, and always very different from that of its yellow-billed congener, which has rippling preep and whistled sweeeooo calls. Small subspecies of the red-billed chough have higher frequency calls than larger races, as predicted by the inverse relationship between body size and frequency. 
Size
41 cm
Colors
Black
Life Expectancy
14 years
Nest Placement
Cliff
Feeding Habits
Red-billed Chough primarily eat insects, spiders, and vegetables like fallen grain. They exhibit unique feeding behaviors like perching on mammals to eat parasites and use their long bill to dig for grubs. Red-billed Chough adapt their diet seasonally and cache food under pebbles.
Habitat
The red-billed Chough is typically found in two distinct habitat zones: rugged coastal cliffs and high mountain pastures. Geographically, these habitats span across Western Europe's coastal regions and extend into high-elevation zones across Central Asia. Ideally, red-billed Chough inhabits elevations from 2,000 to 3,000 meters, but it can ascend to 6,000 meters during summer, with records reaching up to 7,950 meters on Mt. Everest. Preferring rocky crags and slopes grazed by livestock, this species adapts to the presence of human activities, sometimes nesting in inhabited buildings or foraging in urban grasslands.
Dite type
Omnivorous
General Info
Feeding Habits
Bird food type
Distribution Area
The red-billed chough breeds in Ireland, western Great Britain, the Isle of Man, southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin, the Alps, and in mountainous country across Central Asia, India and China, with two separate populations in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is a non-migratory resident throughout its range. Its main habitat is high mountains; it is found between 2,000 and 2,500 metres (6,600 and 8,200 ft) in North Africa, and mainly between 2,400 and 3,000 metres (7,900 and 9,800 ft) in the Himalayas. In that mountain range it reaches 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) in the summer, and has been recorded at 7,950 metres (26,080 feet) altitude on Mount Everest. In the British Isles and Brittany it also breeds on coastal sea cliffs, feeding on adjacent short grazed grassland or machair. It was formerly more widespread on coasts but has suffered from the loss of its specialised habitat. It tends to breed at a lower elevation than the Alpine chough, that species having a diet better adapted to high altitudes.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Family
Crows and jays Genus
Chough Species
Red-billed Chough 
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