The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...
family, one of only two species in the genus ''
Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the western coasts of Ireland and Britain east through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia, India and China.
This bird has glossy black plumage, a long curved red bill, red legs, and a loud, ringing call. It has a buoyant acrobatic flight with widely spread
primaries
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
. The red-billed chough
pairs
Concentration is a round game in which all of the cards are laid face down on a surface and two cards are flipped face up over each turn. The object of the game is to turn over pairs of matching cards.
Concentration can be played with any number ...
for life and displays
fidelity
Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of '' fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word , meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London financial m ...
to its breeding site, which is usually a cave or crevice in a cliff face. It builds a wool-lined stick nest and lays three eggs. It feeds, often in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly
invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
prey.
Although it is subject to predation and parasitism, the main threat to this species is changes in agricultural practices, which have led to population decline, some
local extinction
Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with extinction, global extinctions.
Local extinctions ...
and range fragmentation in Europe; however, it is not threatened globally. The red-billed chough, which derived its common name 'chough' from the
jackdaw
Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus ''Coloeus'' closely related to, but generally smaller than, crows and ravens ('' Corvus''). They have a blackish crown, wings, and tail, with the rest of their plumage paler.Madge & Burn (1994) 136� ...
, was formerly associated with fire-raising, and has links with Saint
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
and
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
.
Taxonomy
The red-billed chough was first described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in his 1758
10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Upupa pyrrhocorax''. It was moved to its current genus, ''Pyrrhocorax'', by
Marmaduke Tunstall
Marmaduke Tunstall (1743 – 11 October 1790) was an England, English ornithologist and collector. He was the author of ''Ornithologia Britannica'' (1771), probably the first British work to use binomial nomenclature.
Tunstall was born at Burto ...
in his 1771 ''Ornithologia Britannica''. The genus name is derived from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
''πυρρός (pyrrhos)'', "flame-coloured", and ''κόραξ (korax)'', "raven".
The only other member of the genus is the
Alpine chough
The Alpine chough () or yellow-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax graculus'') is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europ ...
''Pyrrhocorax graculus'';
hybrids with Alpine chough are known.
Traditionally, the closest relatives of the choughs have been thought to be the typical
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...
s ''Corvus'' and the
jackdaw
Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus ''Coloeus'' closely related to, but generally smaller than, crows and ravens ('' Corvus''). They have a blackish crown, wings, and tail, with the rest of their plumage paler.Madge & Burn (1994) 136� ...
s ''Coloeus'', but more recent genetic studies have suggested the choughs are basal to a group of Asian jay genera (''
Crypsirina
'' Crypsirina '' is a small genus of long-tailed passerine birds in the crow and jay family, Corvidae. The two species are highly arboreal and rarely come to the ground to feed. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ''kruptō'', mean ...
,
Dendrocitta
''Dendrocitta'' is a genus of long-tailed passerine birds in the crow and jay family, Corvidae. They are resident in tropical South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. The generic name is derived from the Greek language, Greek words ''dendron'', mean ...
,
Platysmurus
''Platysmurus'' is a genus of treepie in the family Corvidae
Corvidae is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan Family (biology), family of Songbird, oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, Rook (bird), rooks, magpies, jackd ...
,
Temnurus''),
or most recently, basal in the entire Corvidae.
Subspecies
There are eight extant
subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
, although differences between them are slight.
[
* ''P. p. pyrrhocorax'', the ]nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
and smallest form, is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the British Isles
The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
,[ where it is restricted to ]Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, the Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
, and the west of Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
, southwest Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, which it recolonised in 2001 after an absence of 50 years.
* ''P. p. erythroramphos'', described by Louis Pierre Vieillot
Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist.
Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected ...
in 1817 as ''Coracia erythrorhamphos'', occurs in the red-billed chough's continental European range, excluding Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. It is larger and slightly greener than the nominate race.[
* ''P. p. barbarus'', described by ]Charles Vaurie
Charles Vaurie (7 July 1906 – 13 May 1975) was a French-born American ornithologist. He was born in Beaulieu sur Dordogne, France but moved to Trenton, New Jersey as a youth. He studied at New York University and then qualified as a dentist at ...
under its current name in 1954, is resident in North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and on La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
in the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
. Compared to ''P. p. erythroramphos'', it is larger, has a longer tail and wings, and its plumage has a greener gloss. It is the longest-billed form, both absolutely and relatively.
* ''P. p. baileyi'' described by Austin Loomer Rand and Charles Vaurie under its current name in 1955, is a dull-plumaged subspecies endemic to Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
, where it occurs in two separate areas. The two populations could possibly represent different subspecies.[
* ''P. p. docilis'', described by ]Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist.
Education
Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...
as ''Corvus docilis'' in 1774, breeds from Greece to Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. It is larger than the African subspecies, but it has a smaller bill and its plumage is very green-tinted, with little gloss.[
* ''P. p. himalayanus'', described by ]John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
in 1862 as ''Fregilus himalayanus'', is found from the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
to western China, but intergrade
In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both. There are two types of intergradation: primary and secondary intergradation.
Primary ...
s with ''P. p. docilis'' in the west of its range. It is the largest subspecies, long-tailed, and with blue or purple-blue glossed feathers.[
* ''P. p. centralis'', described by ]Erwin Stresemann
Erwin Friedrich Theodor Stresemann (22 November 1889, in Dresden – 20 November 1972, in East Berlin) was a German naturalist and ornithologist. Stresemann was an ornithologist of extensive breadth who compiled one of the first and most comprehe ...
in 1928 under its current name, breeds in Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
. It is smaller and less strongly blue than ''P. p. himalayanus'',[ but its distinctness from the next subspecies has been questioned.][
* ''P. p. brachypus'', described by ]Robert Swinhoe
Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Qing-era Taiwan (then known to Westerners as Formosa). He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as ...
in 1871 as ''Fregilus graculus'' var. ''brachypus'', breeds in central and northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. It is similar to ''P. p. centralis'' but with a weaker bill.[
The small population in ]Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
has often been included with British and Irish birds in the nominate subspecies ''P. p. pyrrhocorax'', but is now included with other mainland Western European populations in ''P. p. erythroramphos'';[ in some aspects it is intermediate between the two subspecies.][
Detailed analysis of call similarity suggests that the Asiatic and Ethiopian races diverged from the western subspecies early in ]evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
ary history, and that Italian red-billed choughs are more closely allied to the North African subspecies than to those of the rest of Europe.
There is one known prehistoric form of the red-billed chough. ''P. p. primigenius'', a subspecies
In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
that lived in Europe during the last ice age, which was described in 1875 by Alphonse Milne-Edwards
Alphonse Milne-Edwards (Paris, 13 October 1835 – Paris, 21 April 1900) was a French mammalogist, ornithologist, and carcinologist. He was English in origin, the son of Henri Milne-Edwards and grandson of Bryan Edwards, a Jamaican planter who ...
from finds in southwest France.
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax -Penwith -Cornwall -flying-8b.jpg, Nominate subspecies ''P. p. pyrrhocorax'' in flight in Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, UK
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax -standing-8.jpg, Adult of subspecies ''P. p. barbarus'' on La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
, Canary Islands
Red-billed Chough I IMG 7083.jpg, Immature ''P. p. himalayanus'' at at Tilla Lotani, India
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax erythroramphus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.171.6.jpg, Eggs of ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax erythroramphos'' – ( MHNT)
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax MWNH 1378.JPG, Egg, collection Museum Wiesbaden
The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...
Etymology
"Chough" was originally an alternative onomatopoeic
Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...
name for the jackdaw ''Coloeus monedula'', based on its call. The similar red-billed species, formerly particularly common in Cornwall, became known initially as "Cornish chough" and then just "chough", the name transferring from one species to the other.[ 406–8]
The Australian white-winged chough
The white-winged chough (''Corcorax melanorhamphos'') is one of only two surviving species of the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, and is the Monotypic taxon, only member of the genus ''Corcorax''. It is native to southern and e ...
''Corcorax melanorhamphos'', despite its similar shape and habits, is in a separate family Corcoracidae
Corcoracidae is a family of passerine birds known as the Australian mudnesters. The family has sometimes been called Struthideidae in the past; however, despite Struthideidae being an older name than Corcoracidae, the latter name takes precedence ...
only moderately related to the Corvidae and not notably to the true choughs, and is an example of convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...
.[
]
Description
The adult of the "nominate" subspecies of the red-billed chough, ''P. p. pyrrhocorax'', is in length, has a 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.]
Distribution and habitat
The red-billed chough breeds in Ireland, western Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Brittany, La Palma in the Canary Islands, across southern Europe and the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
basin, the Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
, and in mountainous country across Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, 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 in North Africa, and mainly between in the Himalayas. In that mountain range it reaches in the summer, and has been recorded at altitude on ]Mount Everest
Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...
.[ In the British Isles and Brittany it also breeds on coastal sea cliffs, feeding on adjacent short grazed grassland or ]machair
A machair (; sometimes machar in English) is a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on part of the northwestern coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, particularly the Outer Hebrides. The best examples are found on North and South Uist, Harris ...
. 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.][
]
Behaviour and ecology
Breeding
The red-billed chough breeds from three years of age, and normally raises only one brood a year,[ although the age at first breeding is greater in large populations.] A pair exhibits strong mate and site fidelity
Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives ...
once a bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Fidelity bond, a type of insurance policy for employers
* Chemical bond, t ...
is established. The bulky nest is composed of roots and stems of heather, furze
''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...
or other plants, and is lined with wool or hair;[ in central Asia, the hair may be taken from live ]Himalayan tahr
The Himalayan tahr (''Hemitragus jemlahicus'') is a large even-toed ungulate native to the Himalayas in southern Tibet, northern India, western Bhutan and Nepal. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, as the population is declini ...
. The nest is constructed in a cave or similar fissure in a crag or cliff face.[ In soft sandstone, the birds themselves excavate holes nearly a metre deep. Old buildings may be used, and in ]Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...
working monasteries provide sites, as occasionally do modern buildings in Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
n towns, including Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...
.[ The red-billed chough will utilise other artificial sites, such as quarries and mineshafts for nesting where they are available.][
The chough lays three to five eggs in size and weighing 15.7 grammes (0.55 oz), of which 6% is shell.][ They are spotted, not always densely, in various shades of brown and grey on a creamy or slightly tinted ground.][
The egg size is independent of the clutch size and the nest site, but may vary between different females.] The female incubates for 17–18 days before the altricial
Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...
downy chicks are hatched, and is fed at the nest by the male. The female broods
Broods are a musical duo from Nelson, New Zealand, composed of Georgia Josiena Nott on lead vocals, with older brother and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Allan Joseph Nott on production and backing vocals.
They released the single "Bridges (Broo ...
the newly hatched chicks for around ten days, and then both parents share feeding and nest sanitation duties. The chicks fledge
Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight.
This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...
31–41 days after hatching.[
Juveniles have a 43% chance of surviving their first year, and the annual survival rate of adults is about 80%. Choughs generally have a lifespan of about seven years,][ although an age of 17 years has been recorded.] The temperature and rainfall in the months preceding breeding correlates with the number of young fledging each year and their survival rate. Chicks fledging under good conditions are more likely to survive to breeding age, and have longer breeding lives than those fledging under poor conditions.[
]
Feeding
The red-billed chough's food consists largely of insects, spiders and other invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s taken from the ground, with ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
s probably being the most significant item.[ The Central Asian subspecies ''P. p. centralis'' will perch on the backs of wild or domesticated ]mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s to feed on parasites. Although invertebrates make up most of the chough's diet, it will eat vegetable matter including fallen grain, and in the Himalayas has been reported as damaging barley
Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
crops by breaking off the ripening heads to extract the corn.[ In the Himalayas, they form large flocks in winter.]
The preferred feeding habitat is short grass produced by grazing, for example by sheep and rabbits, the numbers of which are linked to the chough's breeding success. Suitable feeding areas can also arise where plant growth is hindered by exposure to coastal salt spray or poor soils. It will use its long curved bill to pick ants, dung beetle
Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. All species of dung beetle belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea, most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae (scarab beetles). As most species of Scara ...
s and emerging flies off the surface, or to dig for grubs and other invertebrates. The typical excavation depth of reflects the thin soils which it feeds on, and the depths at which many invertebrates occur, but it may dig to in appropriate conditions.
Where the two chough species occur together, there is only limited competition for food. An Italian study showed that the vegetable part of the winter diet for the red-billed chough was almost exclusively ''Gagea
''Gagea'' is a large genus of spring flowers in the lily family. It is found primarily in Eurasia with a few species extending into North Africa and one species ('' Gagea serotina'') in North America.
The genus is named after the English na ...
'' bulbs, whilst the Alpine chough took berries and hips. In June, red-billed choughs fed on Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e whereas Alpine choughs ate cranefly
A crane fly is any member of the dipteran superfamily Tipuloidea, which contains the living families Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, as well as several extinct families. "Winter crane flies", members of the family Tri ...
pupa
A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...
e. Later in the summer, the Alpine chough mainly consumed grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grassh ...
s, whilst the red-billed chough added cranefly pupae, fly
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
larvae and beetles to its diet. Both choughs will hide food in cracks and fissures, concealing the cache with a few pebbles.
Natural threats
The red-billed chough's predators include the peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
, golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...
and Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl (''Bubo bubo'') is a species of eagle-owl, a type of bird that resides in much of Eurasia. It is often just called the eagle-owl in Europe and Asia.
It is one of the largest species of owl. Females can grow to a total le ...
, while the common raven
The common raven or northern raven (''Corvus corax'') is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all Corvidae, corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. There are 11 accepted subspecies with little variatio ...
will take nestlings.[ In northern ]Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, red-billed choughs preferentially nest near lesser kestrel
The lesser kestrel (''Falco naumanni'') is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. It is a summer bird migration, migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan and someti ...
colonies. This small insectivorous
A robber fly eating a hoverfly
An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects.
The first vertebrate insectivores we ...
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...
is better at detecting a predator and more vigorous in defence than its corvid
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Curre ...
neighbours. The breeding success of the red-billed chough in the vicinity of the kestrels was found to be much higher than that of birds elsewhere, with a lower percentage of nest failures (16% near the falcon, 65% elsewhere).
This species is occasionally parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo
The great spotted cuckoo (''Clamator glandarius'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals.
It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. I ...
, a brood parasite
Brood may refer to:
Nature
* Brood, a collective term for offspring
* Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents
* Bee brood, the young of a beehive
* Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas:
** Brood X, the largest ...
for which the Eurasian magpie
The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (''Pica pica'') is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the crow family (corvids) designated magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic r ...
is the primary host.
Red-billed choughs can acquire blood parasites such as ''Plasmodium
''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a Hematophagy, blood-feeding insect host (biology), host which then inj ...
'', but a study in Spain showed that the prevalence was less than one percent, and unlikely to affect the life history and conservation of this species. These low levels of parasitism contrast with a much higher prevalence in some other passerine groups; for example a study of thrushes
The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...
in Russia showed that ''all'' the fieldfare
The fieldfare (''Turdus pilaris'') is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It breeds in woodland and scrub in northern Europe and across the Palearctic. It is strongly migratory, with many northern birds moving south during the winter. It ...
s, redwing
The redwing (''Turdus iliacus'') is a bird in the thrush family, Turdidae, native to Europe and the Palearctic, slightly smaller than the related song thrush.
Taxonomy and systematics
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1 ...
s and song thrush
The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a Thrush (bird), thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has four recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, w ...
es sampled carried haematozoans, particularly ''Haemoproteus'' and ''Trypanosoma
''Trypanosoma'' is a genus of kinetoplastids (class Trypanosomatidae), a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. Trypanosoma is part of the phylum Euglenozoa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''trypano-'' (b ...
''.
Red-billed choughs can also carry mite
Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...
s, but a study of the feather mite '' Gabucinia delibata'', acquired by young birds a few months after fledging when they join communal roosts, suggested that this parasite actually ''improved'' the body condition of its host. It is possible that the feather mites enhance feather cleaning and deter pathogen
In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s, and may complement other feather care measures such as sunbathing, and anting
Anting () is a town in Jiading District, Shanghai, bordering Kunshan, Jiangsu to the west. It has 96,000 inhabitants and, after the July 2009 merger of Huangdu (), an area of . —rubbing the plumage with ants (the formic acid
Formic acid (), systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid. It has the chemical formula HCOOH and structure . This acid is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some an ...
from the insects deters parasites).[
]
Status
The red-billed chough has an extensive range, estimated at , and a large population, including an estimated 86,000 to 210,000 individuals in Europe. Over its range as a whole, the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the global population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
(i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
.
However, the European range has declined and fragmented due to the loss of traditional pastoral farming, persecution and perhaps disturbance at breeding and nesting sites, although the numbers in France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Great Britain and Ireland may now have stabilised.[ 1466–68] The European breeding population is between 12,265 and 17,370 pairs, but only in Spain is the species still widespread. Since in the rest of the continent breeding areas are fragmented and isolated, the red-billed chough has been categorised as "vulnerable" in Europe.
In Spain the red-billed chough has recently expanded its range by utilising old buildings, with 1,175 breeding pairs in a study area. These new breeding areas usually surround the original montane core areas. However, the populations with nest sites on buildings are threatened by human disturbance, persecution and the loss of old buildings. Fossils of both chough species were found in the mountains of the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...
. The local extinction of the Alpine chough and the reduced range of red-billed chough in the islands may have been due to climate change or human activity.
A small group of wild red-billed chough arrived naturally in Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
in 2001, and nested in the following year. This was the first English breeding record since 1947, and a slowly expanding population has bred every subsequent year.[ The Chough Reintroduction Project, a partnership between ]Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is a Conservation movement, conservation charity in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1958, previously known as the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. It aims to "work with people to restore, save and improve ou ...
, Wildwood Trust and Paradise Park, Cornwall
Paradise Park is a wildlife sanctuary situated in Hayle, Cornwall, England. It has over 1000 birds and animals and is the home of the World Parrot Trust.
Events
Penguin feeding happens daily in the summer at Paradise Park. They have a summer ev ...
, reintroduced the red-billed chough to South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...
where it had previously been extinct for over two centuries. The first of several releases took place at a secret location in Dover
Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
in July 2023, releasing eight choughs which came from a zoo-based breeding programme coordinated by Paradise Park in Cornwall. By October 2023, the released choughs had been spotted flying as far as Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some writers say it is the ...
. In May 2024, the first wild red-billed chough chick to be born in Kent for generations was discovered at Dover Castle and was reported to have fledged successfully the following month, but went missing during strong winds in early July. A second release of six female choughs into the wild took place in July 2024. By September 2024 an additional six male choughs had been released into the wild, increasing the total number of wild red-billed chough in Kent to nineteen animals.
In Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the dodo as its symbol. Th ...
, in partnership with the States of Jersey
The States Assembly (; Jèrriais: ) is the parliament of Jersey, formed of the island's 37 deputies and the Connétable (Jersey and Guernsey), Connétable of each of the Parishes of Jersey, twelve parishes.
The origins of the legislature of ...
and the National Trust for Jersey
The National Trust for Jersey is a Charitable organization, charitable organisation which aims at preserving and safeguarding sites of historic, aesthetic and Natural environment, natural interest in Jersey.
The trust held its first formal meet ...
began a project in 2010, aimed at restoring selected areas of Jersey's coastline with the intention of returning those birds that had become locally extinct. The red-billed chough was chosen as a flagship species for this project, having been absent from Jersey since around 1900. Durrell initially received two pairs of choughs from Paradise Park in Cornwall and began a captive breeding
Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of keeping plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, Botanical garden, botanic gardens, and other Conservation biology, conservation facilitie ...
programme. In 2013, juveniles were released onto the north coast of Jersey using soft-release methods developed at Durrell. Over the next five years, small cohorts of captive-bred choughs were released, monitored, and provided supplemental food.
In culture
Becket-arms.jpg, Attributed arms
Attributed arms are Western European coats of arms given retrospectively to persons real or fictitious who died before the start of the age of heraldry in the latter half of the 12th century. Once coats of arms were the established fashion of t ...
of Saint Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
(d.1170), Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
: ''Argent, three Cornish choughs proper''
Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg, Arms of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling fi ...
(d.1530), Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...
: ''Sable, on a cross engrailed argent a lion passant gules between four leopard's faces azure; on a chief or a rose gules barbed vert seeded or between two Cornish choughs proper''
Flag of the Newquay Battalion of the Cornwall Home Guard.svg, A yellow flag featuring a Cornish chough was used by the Newquay
Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...
unit of the Cornwall Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...
during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
(the unit's nickname was "The Choughs")
Greek mythology
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, the red-billed chough, also known as 'sea-crow', was considered sacred to the Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
Cronus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or ; ) was the leader and youngest of the Titans, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky). He overthrew his father and ruled dur ...
and dwelt on Ogygia
Ogygia (; , or ''Ōgygíā'' ) is an island mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'', Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso (mythology), Calypso, the daughter of the Titan (mythology), Titan Atlas (mythology), Atlas. In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Calyps ...
, Calypso's 'Blessed Island', where "The birds of broadest wing their mansions form/The chough, the sea-mew, the loquacious crow."
Cornish heraldry
The red-billed chough has a long association with Cornwall, and appears on the Cornish coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
.[ According to Cornish legend ]King Arthur
According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
did not die after his last battle but rather his soul migrated into the body of a red-billed chough, the red colour of its bill and legs being derived from the blood of the last battle and hence killing this bird was unlucky. Legend also holds that after the last Cornish chough departs from Cornwall, then the return of the chough, as happened in 2001, will mark the return of King Arthur.
In English heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...
the bird is always blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
ed as "a Cornish chough" and is usually shown "proper", with tincture
A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...
s as in nature. Since the 14th century, St Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
(d.1170), Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, has retrospectively acquired an attributed coat of arms consisting of three Cornish choughs on a white field, although as he died 30 to 45 years before the start of the age of heraldry,[The age of heraldry started in England c.1200-1215] in reality he bore no arms. These attributed arms appear in many English churches dedicated to him. The symbolism behind the association is not known for certain. According to one legend, a chough strayed into Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...
during Becket's murder, while another suggests that the choughs are a canting
' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...
reference to Becket's name, as they were once known as "beckits". However the latter theory does not stand up to scrutiny, as the use of the term "beckit" to mean a chough is not found before the 19th century.[ Regardless of its origin, the chough is still used in heraldry as a symbol of Becket, and appears in the arms of several persons and institutions associated with him, most notably in the arms of the city of ]Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
.
Nuisance species
Up to the eighteenth century, the red-billed chough was associated with fire-raising, and was described by William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates la ...
as ''incendaria avis'', "oftentime it secretly conveieth fire sticks, setting their houses afire".[ ]Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...
was also familiar with this story:
It is counted little better than a kite, for it is of ravenous quality, and is very mischievous; it will steal and carry away any thing it finds about the house, that is not too heavy, tho' not fit for its food; as knives, forks, spoons and linnen cloths, or whatever it can fly away with, sometimes they say it has stolen bits of firebrands, or lighted candles, and lodged them in the stacks of corn, and the thatch of barns and houses, and set them on fire; but this I only had by oral tradition.
Not all mentions of "chough" refer to this species. Because of the origins of its name, when Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
writes of "the crows and choughs that wing the midway air" 'King Lear'', act 4, scene 6">King_Lear.html" ;"title="'King Lear">'King Lear'', act 4, scene 6or Henry VIII's Vermin Act 1532 is "ordeyned to dystroye Choughes, Crowes and Rookes", they are clearly referring to the jackdaw
Jackdaws are two species of bird in the genus ''Coloeus'' closely related to, but generally smaller than, crows and ravens ('' Corvus''). They have a blackish crown, wings, and tail, with the rest of their plumage paler.Madge & Burn (1994) 136� ...
.[
]
Other symbolism
The red-billed chough has been depicted on postage stamps of a few countries, including the Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
, with four different stamps, Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
, Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
, Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, and The Gambia
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
, where the bird does not occur. It is the animal symbol of the island of La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
.
See also
* List of animal and plant symbols of the Canary Islands
This is a list of animal and plant symbols of the Canary Islands as a whole and each of the islands. These species were established as symbols by Decree Law of April 30, 1991 by the Government of the Canary Islands.
Animal and plant symbol of the ...
* Operation Chough
References
External links
RSPB information, sounds and videos
ARKIVE images
Operation Chough, the return to Cornwall
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.0 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
Red-billed choughs on postage stamps
{{Authority control
red-billed chough
The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus ''Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the we ...
Birds of Eurasia
Birds of the Horn of Africa
Culture of Cornwall
Environment of Cornwall
red-billed chough
The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus ''Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the we ...
red-billed chough
The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus ''Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the we ...
Calypso (mythology)
Cronus