Red-billed Chough

• GeneralA great aerial acrobat; it has been seen flying above 7,900 m in the Himalaya.
• Its survival depends on sheep: it needs short grass in which to probe the ground with its bill, and when grazing stops and the grass grows the chough leaves, even though the cliffs are still there.
• It is an extraordinary flier: it plays with the updraughts along the cliffs, dropping in a dive with closed wings and pulling up at the last moment, apparently for the sheer pleasure of it.
• In Cornwall it is the emblem bird of the region and appears on its coat of arms; it disappeared from there in 1973 and returned under its own steam in 2001.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Inland crags and coastal cliffs with short grassland around them for feeding

Sexual maturity

2 years

Gestation / incubation

18 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

4 eggs

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax