Alpine Chough

The Alpine Chough is a glossy black mountain corvid with a short yellow bill, dark brown eyes, and red legs. Adults measure 37–39 centimetres and span 75–85 centimetres; the sexes look alike, although males average slightly larger. Juveniles are duller, with a muted yellow bill and brownish legs. Its buoyant, acrobatic flight uses deep wingbeats, a fanned tail, folded wings, and cliff updraughts. The short yellow bill separates it readily from the larger-billed red-billed chough where their ranges overlap. (Wikipedia, Alpine Chough account)

Alpine Choughs inhabit high mountains from southern Europe and North Africa across Central Asia to western China, nesting in cliff caves and fissures and foraging on alpine meadows and scree. Flocks take beetles, snails, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and fly larvae in summer, then rely chiefly on fruit during colder seasons. Pairs remain together and show strong fidelity to nesting sites. A lined stick nest holds three to five eggs; the female incubates them for 14–21 days, and both parents feed chicks that fledge after roughly 29–31 days. (Wikipedia, Alpine Chough account)