Chough
| Irish Name: | Cág cosdearg |
| Scientific name: | Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax |
| Bird Family: | Crows |
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Conservation status
Conservation status
Status
Resident along rocky coasts in Munster, as well as parts of Connaught and Ulster.
Identification
Marginally larger than the familiar Jackdaw, at 40 cm in length, in many respects the Chough looks like a typical all-black crow. At close range, however, its unique long, down-curved red bill and bright red legs make identification easy; the Irish name of this species translates as “red-legged Jackdaw”. Choughs also have more prominently “fingered” flight-feathers than our other crows, giving them a distinctive silhouette in the air. Amongst our most accomplished aerobatic fliers, Choughs frequently swoop and soar in updrafts around cliffs, seemingly often just for fun. So skilled are these natural stunt pilots that they will sometimes even fly upside down, perform barrel rolls, etc.
Voice
A very distinctive “key-aww”.
Diet
Feeds mostly on insects and their larvae, worms and other subterranean invertebrates, using their curved bills to dig them out of the soil. They will also eat berries, grain, small mammals and birds and, in true crow fashion, pretty much anything else they can find.
Breeding
Nests in caves or crevices along coasts, or less frequently, in old buildings.
Wintering
Mainly local dispersal from breeding sites to favoured coastal areas.
Monitored by
Chough Survey.
Resident at coastal cliffs. Absent from the East.
Present throughout they year.
