Pyrrhocorax graculus
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
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.
Although it is subject to predation and parasitism, and changes in agricultural practices have caused local population declines, this widespread and abundant species is not threatened globally. Climate change may present a long-term threat, by shifting the necessary Alpine habitat to higher altitudes. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 7 | Hemis National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 9 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 12 | Jiuzhaigou National Park | 🇨🇳 China |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Almaty | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report an Alpine Chough sighting in Ecrins National Park on a given day, based on 157 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 76 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and April
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report an Alpine Chough in Ecrins National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May and October, the lowest months. November and December have too few records to rate.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Alpine Chough sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Alpine Chough sightings, Ecrins National Park ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 70%) and Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Alpine Chough is recorded against all the birds logged in Ecrins National Park (157 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
