Red-billed chough

The red-billed chough was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Upupa pyrrhocorax.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=C | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. | publisher=Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii) |language = la | year=1758| quote = U. atra, rostro pedibusque rubris |page=118}} It was moved to its current genus, Pyrrhocorax, by Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 Ornithologia Britannica.{{cite book | last=Tunstall | first=Marmaduke | author-link= Marmaduke Tunstall |language = la | title= Ornithologia Britannica: seu Avium omnium Britannicarum tam terrestrium, quam aquaticarum catalogus, sermone Latino, Anglico et Gallico redditus | publisher=London, J. Dixwell | year=1771| page=2}} The genus name is derived from Greek πυρρός (pyrrhos), "flame-coloured", and κόραξ (korax), "raven".{{cite web|title= Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (Linnaeus, 1758) |work= BTOWeb BirdFacts|url= http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob15590.htm |publisher=British Trust for Ornithology |access-date=6 February 2008}} The only other member of the genus is the Alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus;{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Crows, mudnesters, birds-of-paradise | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/crows/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=16 October 2024 }} hybrids with Alpine chough are known.{{cite book | last1=Shirihai | first1=Hadoram | last2=Svensson | first2=Lars | title=Handbook of Western Palearctic birds. volume 2: Passerines: flycatchers to buntings | publisher=Helm | publication-place=London Oxford New York New Delhi Sydney | date=2019 | isbn=978-1-4729-3737-7 }}

Traditionally, the closest relatives of the choughs have been thought to be the typical crows Corvus and the jackdaws Coloeus,{{cite book | last = Goodwin | first = Derek |author2=Gillmor, Robert | title = Crows of the World | year =1976 | publisher = British Museum (Natural History)| place=London|isbn = 0-565-00771-8 |page = 151}} but more recent genetic studies have suggested the choughs are basal to a group of Asian jay genera (Crypsirina, Dendrocitta, Platysmurus, Temnurus),{{cite journal | last1=Ericson | first1=Per G. P. | last2=Jansén | first2=Anna-Lee | last3=Johansson | first3=Ulf S. | last4=Ekman | first4=Jan | title=Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data | journal=Journal of Avian Biology | publisher=Wiley | volume=36 | issue=3 | year=2005 | issn=0908-8857 | doi=10.1111/j.0908-8857.2001.03409.x | doi-access=free | pages=222–234}} or most recently, basal in the entire Corvidae.{{cite book | last1=Fjeldså | first1=Jon | last2=Christidis | first2=Les | last3=Ericson | first3=Per G. P. | title=The Largest Avian Radiation | publisher=Lynx edicions | publication-place=Barcelona | date=2020 | isbn=978-84-16728-33-6 }}

There are eight extant subspecies, although differences between them are slight.{{cite book | last = Madge | first = Steve |author2=Burn, Hilary |title = Crows and jays: a guide to the crows, jays and magpies of the world | year = 1994 | publisher = A&C Black | pages = 133–5 | isbn = 0-7136-3999-7}}

• P. p. pyrrhocorax, the nominate subspecies and smallest form, is endemic to the British Isles, where it is restricted to Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the west of Wales, southwest Scotland, and Cornwall, which it recolonised in 2001 after an absence of 50 years.{{cite web |title=The Cornish Chough |url=http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=14166 |publisher=Cornwall Council |access-date=10 April 2012 |archive-date=17 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817084613/https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=14166 |url-status=dead }}
• P. p. erythroramphos, described by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817 as Coracia erythrorhamphos,{{cite book | last = Vieillot | first = Louis Pierre | title = Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle|pages =volume 8, 12 |language = fr | year =1817 | no-pp = true}} occurs in the red-billed chough's continental European range, excluding Greece. It is larger and slightly greener than the nominate race.
• P. p. barbarus, described by Charles Vaurie under its current name in 1954, is resident in North Africa and on La Palma in the Canary Islands. 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.{{cite journal|last=Vaurie |first= Charles |date=May 1954 |title= Systematic Notes on Palearctic Birds. No. 4 The Choughs (Pyrrhocorax) |journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=1658 |hdl=2246/3595}}
• P. p. baileyi described by Austin Loomer Rand and Charles Vaurie under its current name in 1955,{{cite journal|last= Rand |first= Austin Loomer |author2=Vaurie, Charles |year= 1955|title= A new chough from the highlands of Abyssinia |journal= Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |volume=75 |page=28 |url=http://biostor.org/reference/116684}} is a dull-plumaged subspecies endemic to Ethiopia, where it occurs in two separate areas. The two populations could possibly represent different subspecies.
• P. p. docilis, described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin as Corvus docilis in 1774,{{cite book | last = Gmelin | first = Johann Friedrich | title = Reise durch Russland | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_X5AaAAAAYAAJ | year = 1774 |language = de | page = volume 3, 365| publisher = St. Petersburg | no-pp = true}} breeds from Greece to Afghanistan. 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 in 1862 as Fregilus himalayanus,{{cite journal|last=Gould |first=John |year= 1862 |title=Two new species of hummingbird, a new Fregilus from the Himalayas and a new species of Prion|journal= Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London|volume=1862 |page=125|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28627056 }} is found from the Himalayas to western China, but intergrades 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 in 1928 under its current name,{{cite journal|last=Stresemann |first= Erwin |year=1928 |title= Die Vögel der Elburs Expedition 1927 |journal= Journal of Ornithology |volume=76 |language = de |issue= 2|pages=313–326 |doi= 10.1007/BF01940684|s2cid= 27450092 }} breeds in Central Asia. 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 in 1871 as Fregilus graculus var. brachypus,{{cite journal |last=Swinhoe |first=Robert |date=1871 |title=A revised catalogue of the birds of China and its islands, with descriptions of new species, references to former notes, and occasional remarks |journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London |page=383}} breeds in central and northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia. It is similar to P. p. centralis but with a weaker bill.

The small population in Brittany 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;{{cite journal | last1=Wenzel | first1=Marius A. | last2=Webster | first2=Lucy M. I. | last3=Blanco | first3=Guillermo | last4=Burgess | first4=Malcolm D. | last5=Kerbiriou | first5=Christian | last6=Segelbacher | first6=Gernot | last7=Piertney | first7=Stuart B. | last8=Reid | first8=Jane M. | title=Pronounced genetic structure and low genetic diversity in European red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) populations | journal=Conservation Genetics | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=13 | issue=5 | date=2012-06-15 | issn=1566-0621 | doi=10.1007/s10592-012-0366-6 | doi-access=free | pages=1213–1230| bibcode=2012ConG...13.1213W | hdl=2164/4681 | hdl-access=free }} 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 evolutionary history, and that Italian red-billed choughs are more closely allied to the North African subspecies than to those of the rest of Europe.{{cite journal|author1=Laiolo, Paola|author2=Rolando, Antonio|author3=Delestrade, Anne|author4=De Sanctis, Augusto|year= 2004|title= Vocalizations and morphology: interpreting the divergence among populations of Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax and Alpine Chough P. graculus |journal= Bird Study|volume= 51|issue= 3|pages= 248–255 |doi= 10.1080/00063650409461360|doi-access= free}}

There is one known prehistoric form of the red-billed chough. P. p. primigenius, a subspecies that lived in Europe during the last ice age, which was described in 1875 by Alphonse Milne-Edwards from finds in southwest France.{{cite book |editor1-last=Milne-Edwards |editor1-first=Alphonse |editor2-last=Lartet |editor2-first=Édouard |editor3-last=Christy |editor3-first=Henry |title=Reliquiae aquitanicae: being contributions to the archaeology and palaeontology of Pèrigord and the adjoining provinces of Southern France |url=https://archive.org/details/reliquiaeaquitan00lartuoft |date=1875 |location=London |publisher=Williams |pages=[https://archive.org/details/reliquiaeaquitan00lartuoft/page/226 226–247]}}{{cite journal |last=Mourer-Chauviré |first=Cécile |date=1975 |title=Les oiseaux du Pléistocène moyen et supérieur de France |language=fr |journal=Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de la Faculté des Sciences de Lyon |volume=64}}

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax -Penwith -Cornwall -flying-8b.jpg|Nominate subspecies P. p. pyrrhocorax in flight in Cornwall, UK

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax -standing-8.jpg|Adult of subspecies P. p. barbarus on La Palma, Canary Islands

Red-billed Chough I IMG 7083.jpg|Immature P. p. himalayanus at {{convert|3800|m|ft|abbr=off}} 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

"Chough" was originally an alternative onomatopoeic 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.{{cite book | last = Cocker | first = Mark |author2=Mabey, Richard |title = Birds Britannica | year = 2005 |location=London | publisher = Chatto & Windus | isbn = 0-7011-6907-9}} 406–8

The Australian white-winged chough Corcorax melanorhamphos, despite its similar shape and habits, is in a separate family Corcoracidae only moderately related to the Corvidae and not notably to the true choughs, and is an example of convergent evolution.

The adult of the "nominate" subspecies of the red-billed chough, P. p. pyrrhocorax, is {{convert|39|–|40|cm|in|abbr=off}} in length, has a {{convert|73|–|90|cm|in|abbr=off}} 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{{cite journal|last1=Blanco |first1=Guillermo |last2=Tella |first2=José Luis |last3=Torre |first3=Ignacio |date=Summer 1996 |title=Age and sex determination of monomorphic non-breeding choughs: a long-term study |journal=Journal of Field Ornithology |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=428–433 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jfo/v067n03/p0428-p0433.pdf }}) 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.{{cite journal|last= Laiolo |first= Paola |author2=Rolando, Antonio|author3=Delestrade, Anne|author4=de Sanctis, Augusto |date=May 2001 |title= Geographical Variation in the Calls of the Choughs |journal= The Condor |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=287–297 |doi= 10.1650/0010-5422(2001)103[0287:GVITCO]2.0.CO;2|s2cid= 85866352 |issn= 0010-5422 |doi-access=free }}

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 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 {{convert|2000|and|2,500|m|ft}} in North Africa, and mainly between {{convert|2400|and|3,000|m|ft}} in the Himalayas. In that mountain range it reaches {{convert|6000|m|ft|abbr=off}} in the summer, and has been recorded at {{convert|7950|m|ft|abbr=off}} 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.{{cite web|title= Chough|url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/c/chough/ |publisher= Royal Society for the Protection of Birds|access-date=5 February 2008}}{{cite web |title= Cornwall Chough Project |work= Projects |url= http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/223656-cornwall-chough-project |publisher= Royal Society for the Protection of Birds |access-date= 1 June 2012 |archive-date= 14 July 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140714172746/http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/223656-cornwall-chough-project |url-status= dead }} It tends to breed at a lower elevation than the Alpine chough, that species having a diet better adapted to high altitudes.

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.{{cite journal|last= Reid |first=J. M. |author2=Bignal, E. M. |author3=Bignal, S. |author4=McCracken, D. I. |author5= Monaghan, P. |year= 2003|title=Environmental variability, life-history covariation and cohort effects in the red-billed chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax |journal= Journal of Animal Ecology |volume= 72|issue= 1 |pages= 36–46 | doi =10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00673.x|jstor=3505541|doi-access=free |bibcode=2003JAnEc..72...36R }} A pair exhibits strong mate and site fidelity once a bond is established. The bulky nest is composed of roots and stems of heather, furze or other plants, and is lined with wool or hair; in central Asia, the hair may be taken from live Himalayan tahr.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} 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.{{cite book|last=Ali|first=Salim|author2=Ripley, S Dillon |year=1986|volume=5|edition=2nd| title=Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan| publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=239–242|isbn=0-19-562063-1}} Old buildings may be used, and in Tibet working monasteries provide sites, as occasionally do modern buildings in Mongolian towns, including Ulaanbaatar. 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 {{convert|3.9|x|2.8|cm|in|abbr=off}} 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.{{cite journal|last= Stillman |first= Richard A.|author2=Bignal, Eric M.|author3=McCracken, David I.|author4=Ovenden, Gy N.|year=1998 |title= Clutch and egg size in the Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax on Islay, Scotland |journal= Bird Study |volume=45 |issue= 1|pages=122–126 | doi=10.1080/00063659809461085|doi-access=free |bibcode= 1998BirdS..45..122S}} The female incubates for 17–18 days before the altricial downy chicks are hatched, and is fed at the nest by the male. The female broods the newly hatched chicks for around ten days,{{cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF01653340 | last1 = Laiolo | first1 = P. | last2 = Bignal | first2 = E.M. | last3 = Patterson | first3 = I.J. | year = 1998 | title = The dynamics of parental care in Choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)| journal = Journal of Ornithology | volume = 139 | issue = 3| pages = 297–305 | s2cid = 42610400 }} and then both parents share feeding and nest sanitation duties. The chicks fledge 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.{{cite journal | last1 = Roberts | first1 = P. J. | year = 1985 | title = The choughs of Bardsey | journal = British Birds | volume = 78 | issue = 5| pages = 217–32 }} 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.

File:PyrrhocoraxPEremita.jpg

The red-billed chough's food consists largely of insects, spiders and other invertebrates taken from the ground, with ants probably being the most significant item. The Central Asian subspecies P. p. centralis will perch on the backs of wild or domesticated mammals to feed on parasites.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} 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 crops by breaking off the ripening heads to extract the corn. In the Himalayas, they form large flocks in winter.{{cite book|last=Rasmussen|first=Pamela C.|author2=Anderson, John C. |year=2005| title=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions|pages=597–598}}

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.{{cite journal|last= Mccanch |first=Norman |date=November 2000 |title= The relationship between Red-Billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (L) breeding populations and grazing pressure on the Calf of Man |journal= Bird Study |volume= 47 |issue=3 |pages=295–303|doi= 10.1080/00063650009461189 |s2cid=85161238 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2000BirdS..47..295M }}{{cite journal|last= Blanco |first= Guillermo |author2=Tella, José Luis|author3=Torre, Ignacio |date=July 1998 |title= Traditional farming and key foraging habitats for chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax conservation in a Spanish pseudosteppe landscape |jstor=2405122 |journal= Journal of Applied Ecology |volume=35 |issue=23 |pages= 232–239| doi=10.1046/j.1365-2664.1998.00296.x |doi-access=free |bibcode= 1998JApEc..35..232B }} It will use its long curved bill to pick ants, dung beetles and emerging flies off the surface, or to dig for grubs and other invertebrates. The typical excavation depth of {{convert|2|–|3|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} reflects the thin soils which it feeds on, and the depths at which many invertebrates occur, but it may dig to {{convert|10|–|20|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in appropriate conditions.{{cite journal| last= Roberts | first= P. J. | year= 1983| title= Feeding habitats of the Chough on Bardsey Island (Gwynedd) | journal = Bird Study | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | pages= 67–72 | doi = 10.1080/00063658309476777| doi-access= free | bibcode= 1983BirdS..30...67R }}{{cite book | last = Morris | first = Rev. Francis Orpen | title = A history of British birds, volume 2 | year = 1862| publisher = London, Groombridge and Sons |page =29}}

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 bulbs, whilst the Alpine chough took berries and hips. In June, red-billed choughs fed on Lepidoptera larvae whereas Alpine choughs ate cranefly pupae. Later in the summer, the Alpine chough mainly consumed grasshoppers, whilst the red-billed chough added cranefly pupae, fly larvae and beetles to its diet.{{cite journal|last= Rolando |first= A |author2=Laiolo, P |date=April 1997 |title= A comparative analysis of the diets of the chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax and the alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus coexisting in the Alps |journal= Ibis | volume=139 |issue=2 |pages=388–395 |doi= 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1997.tb04639.x }} Both choughs will hide food in cracks and fissures, concealing the cache with a few pebbles.{{cite book | last = Wall | first = Stephen B. Vander | title = Food hoarding in animals | url = https://archive.org/details/foodhoardinginan0000vand | url-access = registration | year = 1990 | publisher = University of Chicago Press | isbn =0-226-84735-7 |page = [https://archive.org/details/foodhoardinginan0000vand/page/306 306] }}

File:ChoughsDiff.svg

The red-billed chough's predators include the peregrine falcon, golden eagle and Eurasian eagle-owl, while the common raven will take nestlings.{{cite web |title= A year in the life of Choughs |url= http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=206 |publisher=BirdWatch Ireland |access-date= 6 February 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160411234509/http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=206 |archive-date= 11 April 2016 |url-status= dead }}{{cite web |title=Release Update December 2003 |url=http://www.paradisepark.org.uk/choughs/2003/updatedec03.pdf |publisher=Operation Chough |access-date=6 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719102348/http://www.paradisepark.org.uk/choughs/2003/updatedec03.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011 }}{{cite journal|last= Rolando |first= Antonio |author2=Caldoni, Riccardo|author3=De Sanctis, Augusto|author4=Laiolo, Paola |year= 2001 |title= Vigilance and neighbour distance in foraging flocks of red-billed choughs, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax |journal= Journal of Zoology|volume= 253|issue= 2| doi = 10.1017/S095283690100019X | pages= 225–232}} In northern Spain, red-billed choughs preferentially nest near lesser kestrel colonies. This small insectivorous falcon is better at detecting a predator and more vigorous in defence than its corvid 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).{{cite journal|last= Blanco |first= Guillermo |author2=Tella, José Luis |date=August 1997 |title= Protective association and breeding advantages of choughs nesting in lesser kestrel colonies |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume= 54|issue=2 |pages=335–342 | doi=10.1006/anbe.1996.0465|pmid= 9268465|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223037430|hdl=10261/58091|s2cid= 38852266 |hdl-access=free }}

This species is occasionally parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo, a brood parasite for which the Eurasian magpie is the primary host.{{cite journal|last=Soler |first=Manuel |author2=Palomino, Jose Javier |author3=Martinez, Juan Gabriel |author4=Soler, Juan Jose |year=1995 |title=Communal parental care by monogamous magpie hosts of fledgling Great Spotted Cuckoos |journal=The Condor |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=804–810 |doi=10.2307/1369188 |jstor=1369188 |url=http://www.eeza.csic.es/eeza/documentos/soler_communal%20parental%20care.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326065655/http://www.eeza.csic.es/eeza/documentos/soler_communal%20parental%20care.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2009 }}

Red-billed choughs can acquire blood parasites such as Plasmodium, 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.{{cite journal |last=Blanco |first=Guillermo |author2=Merino, Santiago |author3=Tella, Joseé Luis |author4=Fargallo, Juan A |author5=Gajon, A |year=1997 |title=Hematozoa in two populations of the threatened red-billed chough in Spain |journal=Journal of Wildlife Diseases |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=642–5 |doi=10.7589/0090-3558-33.3.642 |pmid=9249715 |s2cid=9353982 |doi-access=free }} These low levels of parasitism contrast with a much higher prevalence in some other passerine groups; for example a study of thrushes in Russia showed that all the fieldfares, redwings and song thrushes sampled carried haematozoans, particularly Haemoproteus and Trypanosoma.{{cite journal|last= Palinauskas |first= Vaidas |author2=Markovets, Mikhail Yu |author3=Kosarev, Vladislav V |author4=Efremov, Vladislav D |author5=Sokolov Leonid V |author6= Valkiûnas, Gediminas |year=2005 |title= Occurrence of avian haematozoa in Ekaterinburg and Irkutsk districts of Russia |journal= Ekologija |volume= 4|pages= 8–12 }}

Red-billed choughs can also carry mites, 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 pathogens,{{cite journal|last=Blanco |first=Guillermo |author2=Tella, Jose Luis |author3=Potti, Jaime |date=September 1997 |title=Feather Mites on Group-Living Red-Billed Choughs: A Non-Parasitic Interaction? |journal=Journal of Avian Biology |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=197–206 |doi=10.2307/3676970 |url=http://www.ebd.csic.es/potti/jpotti_web_archivos/jpotti38.pdf |jstor=3676970 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619141043/http://www.ebd.csic.es/potti/JPOTTI_WEB_archivos/JPotti38.pdf |archive-date=19 June 2013 }} and may complement other feather care measures such as sunbathing, and anting—rubbing the plumage with ants (the formic acid from the insects deters parasites).

The red-billed chough has an extensive range, estimated at {{convert|10|e6km2|e6sqmi|0|abbr=off|spell=on}}, 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 (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as least concern.

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, Great Britain and Ireland may now have stabilised.{{cite book | editor1-last = Snow | editor1-first = David |editor2-last=Perrins|editor2-first=Christopher M.| title = The Birds of the Western Palearctic concise edition (2 volumes) | publisher = Oxford University Press |year = 1998| location =Oxford | isbn = 0-19-854099-X }} 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.{{cite web |title= Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (breeding) |url= http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/UKSPA/UKSPA-A6-102A.pdf |publisher= Joint Nature Conservation Committee |access-date= 6 February 2008 |archive-date= 4 February 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110204121700/http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/UKSPA/UKSPA-A6-102A.pdf |url-status= dead }}

In Spain the red-billed chough has recently expanded its range by utilising old buildings, with 1,175 breeding pairs in a {{convert|9716|km2|sqmi|adj=on}} 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.{{cite journal|last= Blanco|first= Guillermo |author2=Fargallo, Juan A.|author3=Tella, José Luis|author4=Cuevas|author5=Jesús A.|year= 1997 |title= Role of buildings as nest-sites in the range expansion and conservation of choughs Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax in Spain |journal=Biological Conservation |volume= 79 |issue=2–3 |pages=117–122 | doi=10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00118-8|bibcode= 1997BCons..79..117B |url=https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/58104/1/Bc12.pdf |hdl= 10261/58104|hdl-access=free }} Fossils of both chough species were found in the mountains of the Canary Islands. 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.{{cite journal | last= Reyes | first= Juan Carlos Rando| year=2007 | title= New fossil records of choughs genus Pyrhocorax in the Canary Islands: hypotheses to explain its extinction and current narrow distribution | journal= Ardeola | volume= 54| issue=2 | pages= 185–195 | url = http://www.ardeola.org/volume/54(2)/article/185-195/1315}}

A small group of wild red-billed chough arrived naturally in Cornwall 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, Wildwood Trust and Paradise Park, Cornwall, reintroduced the red-billed chough to South East England where it had previously been extinct for over two centuries.{{cite web |title=Chough Reintroduction Project |url=https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/choughreintroduction |website=Kent Wildlife Trust |access-date=2 February 2025}} The first of several releases took place at a secret location in Dover in July 2023, releasing eight choughs which came from a zoo-based breeding programme coordinated by Paradise Park in Cornwall.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Sally |title=There'll be red-bills over the White Cliffs of Dover |url=https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/therell-be-red-bills-over-white-cliffs-dover |access-date=2 February 2025 |work=Kent Wildlife Trust |date=25 July 2023}} By October 2023, the released choughs had been spotted flying as far as Dover Castle.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Sally |title=The flight of the chough |url=https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/flight-chough |access-date=2 February 2025 |work=Kent Wildlife Trust |date=31 October 2023}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Sally |title=Award-winning conservationists celebrate as dream to return red-billed chough to the South East reaches new heights |url=https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/celebrating-chough-summer-2024 |access-date=2 February 2025 |work=Kent Wildlife Trust |date=2 August 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.{{cite news |title=The sky's the limit for Kent conservationists at nineteen red-billed chough take flight in the South East after a 200-year absence |url=https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/skys-limit-kent-conservationists-nineteen-red-billed-chough-take-flight-south-east-after-200 |access-date=2 February 2025 |work=Kent Wildlife Trust |date=26 September 2024}}

In Jersey, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, in partnership with the States of Jersey and the National Trust for Jersey 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 programme.{{cite web | title= Red-billed Chough | url= http://wildlife.durrell.org/animals/birds/redbilled-chough/ | publisher= Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust | access-date= 15 July 2019 | archive-date= 27 September 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210927164847/http://wildlife.durrell.org/animals/birds/redbilled-chough/ | url-status= dead }} 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.{{cite web|title=Choughs: Field Programme|website=Birds on the Edge|publisher=Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust|url=http://www.birdsontheedge.org/projects/choughs/field-programme/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223144327/http://www.birdsontheedge.org/projects/choughs/field-programme/|archive-date=23 December 2018|access-date=15 July 2019|url-status=live}}

Becket-arms.jpg|Attributed arms of Saint Thomas Becket (d.1170), Archbishop of Canterbury: Argent, three Cornish choughs proper

Christ Church Oxford Coat Of Arms.svg|Arms of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (d.1530), Archbishop of York: 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 unit of the Cornwall Home Guard during World War II (the unit's nickname was "The Choughs"){{cite web |url=https://ntprints.com/products/pod1039530 |title=A yellow flag at Trerice |work=National Trust Prints |access-date=26 September 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cornwall/trerice/things-to-see-in-the-garden-at-trerice#rt-kayling-lawn-and-parade-ground |title=Things to see in the garden at Trerice – Kayling lawn and parade ground |publisher=National Trust |access-date=26 September 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://bodminkeep.org.uk/eyes-everywhere-the-cornish-home-guard/ |title=Eyes Everywhere! – The Cornish Home Guard |date=21 March 2022 |work=Bodmin Keep |access-date=26 September 2024}}

In Greek mythology, the red-billed chough, also known as 'sea-crow', was considered sacred to the Titan Cronus and dwelt on Ogygia, Calypso's 'Blessed Island', where "The birds of broadest wing their mansions form/The chough, the sea-mew, the loquacious crow."{{cite web |title= Book V. The departure of Ulysses from Calypso |work= The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Alexander Pope |url= https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/homer/h8op/book5.html |access-date= 22 March 2008 |archive-date= 13 March 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160313201145/https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/homer/h8op/book5.html |url-status= dead }}

The red-billed chough has a long association with Cornwall, and appears on the Cornish coat of arms. According to Cornish legend King Arthur 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{{cite book | last = Newlyn | first = Lucy | others=Wilkinson, Lucy (illustrator) |title = Chatter of Choughs: An Anthology Celebrating the Return of Cornwall's Legendary Bird | year = 2005 | publisher = Hypatia Publications| page = 31 |isbn = 1-872229-49-2}} and hence killing this bird was unlucky.{{cite book |last=de Vries |first=Ad |title=Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery |year=1976 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsymb0000vrie/page/97 97] |publisher=North-Holland Publishing Company |location=Amsterdam |isbn=0-7204-8021-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsymb0000vrie/page/97 }} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/cornish-chuffed-at-the-return-of-the-chough-671071.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109232713/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/cornish-chuffed-at-the-return-of-the-chough-671071.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 November 2012 |newspaper=The Independent |date= 27 January 2002 |first=Severin|last= Carrell |title=Cornish chuffed at the return of the chough|access-date=27 November 2010}}

In English heraldry the bird is always blazoned as "a Cornish chough" and is usually shown "proper", with tinctures as in nature. Since the 14th century, St Thomas Becket (d.1170), Archbishop of Canterbury, has retrospectively acquired an attributed coat of arms consisting of three Cornish choughs on a white field,{{cite web |title= Keeping the Twelve Days of Christmas |url= http://fullhomelydivinity.org/articles/Twelve%20Days%20of%20Christmas.htm |publisher= Fullhomelydivinity.org |access-date= 6 February 2008 |archive-date= 27 March 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160327163036/http://fullhomelydivinity.org/articles/Twelve%20Days%20of%20Christmas.htm |url-status= dead }} 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 during Becket's murder, while another suggests that the choughs are a canting reference to Becket's name, as they were once known as "beckits".{{cite journal|title=Heraldry and the Martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket|url=http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/articles/fictional_attributed/beckets_murderers.htm|date=January 1971|journal=The Coat of Arms|publisher=The Heraldry Society|issue=85|last=Humphery-Smith|first=Cecil}} 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.{{cite web|title=The City Arms of Canterbury |url=http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/main.cfm?objectid=5511 |publisher=Canterbury City Council |access-date=16 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601181817/http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/main.cfm?objectid=5511 |archive-date=1 June 2012 }}

Up to the eighteenth century, the red-billed chough was associated with fire-raising, and was described by William Camden as incendaria avis, "oftentime it secretly conveieth fire sticks, setting their houses afire". Daniel Defoe 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.{{cite book | last =Defoe | first =Daniel | title =A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (Appendix To Letter III) | location = London, UK | publisher = Dent | url = https://archive.org/stream/tourthroughtthew006736mbp#page/n275/mode/2up/search/appendix+to+letter | year =1962 | pages = 247–248}}

Not all mentions of "chough" refer to this species. Because of the origins of its name, when Shakespeare writes of "the crows and choughs that wing the midway air" [King Lear, act 4, scene 6] or Henry VIII's Vermin Act 1532 is "ordeyned to dystroye Choughes, Crowes and Rookes", they are clearly referring to the jackdaw.

The red-billed chough has been depicted on postage stamps of a few countries, including the Isle of Man, with four different stamps, Bhutan, Turkmenistan, Yugoslavia, and The Gambia, where the bird does not occur.{{cite web| author = Scharning, Kjell | title= Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax | work= Theme Birds on Stamps | url= http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=1689&fl=P|access-date=4 June 2009 }} It is the animal symbol of the island of La Palma.{{cite act |type=Ley |index=7/1991 |date=30 April 1991 |title=Símbolos de la naturaleza para las Islas Canarias |trans-title=Natural Symbols for the Canary Islands |url=https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1991-16276 |language=es |via=BOE |volume=151 |pages=20946–20497}}

{{Portal|Birds|Cornwall}}

• List of animal and plant symbols of the Canary Islands
• Operation Chough

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{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax}}

• [http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/c/chough/index.asp RSPB information, sounds and videos]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080115191521/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/birds/Pyrrhocorax_pyrrhocorax/ ARKIVE images]
• [http://www.paradisepark.org.uk/choughs/ Operation Chough, the return to Cornwall]
• [http://www.brycchancarey.com/places/cornwall/harris2.htm John Harris poem "The Cornish Chough"]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202061809/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/411_ChoughPpyrrhocorax.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 3.0 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
• [http://www.birdtheme.org/species/imagespage.php?spec=1689&fl=P Red-billed choughs on postage stamps]

{{Corvidae|1}}

{{Culture of Cornwall}}

{{Taxonbar |from=Q643836}}

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red-billed chough

Category:Birds of Eurasia

Category:Birds of the Horn of Africa

Category:Culture of Cornwall

Category:Environment of Cornwall

red-billed chough

red-billed chough

Category:Calypso (mythology)

Category:Cronus