Wildlife in Italy: Alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus

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Systematic classification and distribution

Class: Birds
Order: Passeriformi
Family: Crows
Kind: Pyrrhocorax
Species: graculus

The Alpine Chough or Mountain Chough is found in Southern Europe, exclusively on mountain reliefs. Very common in the Alps, especially near alpine huts.

Alpine or mountain chough (photo www.hautesavoiephotos.com)

Alpine or mountain chough (photo Ermanno Salvaterra www.ermannosalvaterra.it)

Distinctive characters

He is a master in gliding flight. About 38 cm long, it can reach 79 cm with a wingspan. The adult is black with a yellowish beak and red legs, while young people mainly differ in the different coloring of the legs which are black.

Biology

The reproduction is colonial: the nest is built in cavities or ravines of rocky walls. The female lays 3-6 cream-whitish eggs with brown specks from April until May, brooding for 21 days.
It has adapted to the human presence in the mountains and related waste. It also feeds on insects and their larvae, fruits, small invertebrates, in winter it goes downstream in search of food.

curated by Sauro Giannerini