Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) [XC490754]
by Peter Boesman from Sierra de Segura, Ja\u00e9n, Andaluc\u00eda, Spain (flight call)
Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax) [XC420930]
by david m from Kilchoman, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, United Kingdom (call, flight call)
Nest
A large pile of twigs, in a crevice in a cliff or on a ledge in a cave, lined with wool.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; very pale buff or green, with small olive and green markings.
Subspecies
Hybrids with Yellow-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) reported very rarely. Isolated subspecies baileyi differs vocally from others. Birds in Inner Mongolia and western Heilongjiang (north-eastern China) of uncertain racial identity, currently included in brachypus. Subspecies intergrade, and size tends to increase clinally towards south. Several other subspecies proposed, based on minor differences and/or intermediate populations: pontifex (Elburz Mts, in northern Iran) and subdocilis (Khrebet Mts, on Turkmenistan-north-eastern Iran border) synonymized with docilis; and stresemanni (Sayan Mts, in southern Russia) included in centralis. Subspecies erythroramphos often misspelt "erythrorhamphos".
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
pyrrhocorax (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern, western and southern Ireland, western Scotland, I of Man, Wales and south-western England (Cornwall).
erythroramphos (Vieillot, 1817) - North-eastern Portugal, Spain, north-western and southern France, south-western Switzerland, central Italy, and Sardinia and Sicily.
barbarus Vaurie, 1954 - Mountains of north-western Africa (Morocco and Algeria). Also Canary Is (La Palma).
docilis (Gmelin, SG, 1774) - Southern Balkans, Greece (including Crete), and Turkey east to Caucasus, Levant (Lebanon, northern Israel, central Syria), northern Iraq, northern Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
centralis Stresemann, 1928 - North-western Himalayas Neast through Altai to Mongolia and Buryatia (southern Russia) and, in south, east to south-western China (south-western Xizang), Kashmir and Ladakh.
himalayanus (Gould, 1862) - Himalayas east to Bhutan and north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh) and to central and southern China (central Gansu south to Sichuan and Yunnan).
brachypus (Swinhoe, 1871) - North-eastern and eastern China (Inner Mongolia and western Heilongjiang south to Ningxia, Shaanxi and Hebei).
baileyi Rand & Vaurie, 1955 - Simien (and nearby Mt Abune Yosef and Dilenta highlands) and Bale Mts, in Ethiopia.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet