Listen to the Alpine chough
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the Alpine chough
The Alpine chough is a bird in the family Corvidae (order Passeriformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”.
What does the Alpine chough sound like?
Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once. Songs tend to be long and patterned and are used to hold territory and attract a mate; calls are short signals for contact, alarm and flight.
The recordings here are labelled as call, flight call and alarm call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The Alpine chough (; chuf) or yellow-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia and Nepal, and it may nest at a higher altitude than any other bird. Its eggs have adaptations to the thin atmosphere that improve oxygen take-up and reduce water loss.
This bird has glossy black plumage, a yellow beak, red legs, and distinctive calls. It has a buoyant acrobatic flight with widely spread flight feathers. The Alpine chough pairs for life and displays fidelity to its breeding site, which is usually a cave or crevice in a cliff face. It builds a lined stick nest and lays three to five brown-blotched whitish eggs. It feeds, usually in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly invertebrate prey in summer and fruit in winter; it will readily approach tourist sites to find supplementary food.
Related birds in the genus Pyrrhocorax
More from the family Corvidae
Common raven
Corvus corax
Eurasian magpie
Pica pica
Eurasian jay
Garrulus glandarius
Western jackdaw
Coloeus monedula
Rook
Corvus frugilegus
Hooded crow
Corvus cornix
Carrion crow
Corvus corone
Northern nutcracker
Nucifraga caryocatactes
Blue jay
Cyanocitta cristata
House crow
Corvus splendens
Pied crow
Corvus albus
Frequently asked questions
What does an Alpine chough sound like?
You can hear 5 recordings of the Alpine chough on this page, including its call, flight call and alarm call. Birds produce sound with the syrinx, a vocal organ deep in the chest that can make two independent sounds at once.
Is the Alpine chough endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Alpine chough as “least concern”.
What family does the Alpine chough belong to?
The Alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) belongs to the family Corvidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources & credits
- Call · Kandersteg, Frutigen, Bern, Switzerland by Pascal Christe – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Flight call · Cogne, Valle d'Aosta, Valle d'Aosta, Italy by Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Leukerbad, Leuk, Valais, Switzerland by Pascal Christe – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Alarm call · Fiè allo… by Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Alarm call, flight call · Cogne, Valle d'Aosta, Valle d'Aosta, Italy by Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q191386 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Alpine chough – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Pethan – CC BY-SA 3.0