The Chough common mountain bird, meet her in Russia in the Caucasus, Altai, Sayan, Tuva and Transbaikalia. Her tail velvety-black, thin, slightly downward curved beak coral-red, claws red.
Compared to the crows and rooks the Chough seems light and thin. (In the highlands of the Caucasus, the Altai can be found closely related to the Chough species – the Alpine Chough. This bird differs from the more red-billed choughs, short yellow beak.)
Ringing like a stone hitting a taut wire, the voice of the Chough heard in the morning when pairs and scattered groups of birds flying from the mountains to the valleys, where they hunt insects and pick up the grain on harvested fields.
The food they serve is mainly insects, particularly beetles, which they collect from the surface of the earth and choose from the manure. Eat a lot of red-billed choughs grasshoppers and crickets. From plant feed prefer cereal and willingly eat a variety of berries, especially mulberry.
Traces of red-billed choughs easier to meet in the valleys than in the mountains. Paw from her short, his fingers too short and rather thick, with short curved claws. The size of the footprint of 5.5×2.8 cm, even shorter than daws. Step almost straight and short, about 8.5- 12 cm Width of the trace track about 5.5 cm
All year round Chough hold formed in pairs, even if you are in the pack. Birds are strongly attached to each other. They nest in small colonies or in separate pairs, placing the nest in crevices of rocks or in caves.
A nest of red-billed choughs, more like a crows nest that was removed from the tree and laid it on the stone. I found the nest there were always under an overhanging ledge or in a niche – a kind of cover from rain and from predators. By the end of the nesting period nests near always accumulate a large amount of litter.
