The Alpine chough, or yellow-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) lives and breeds at altitudes beyond the reach of most other European birds. It is comfortable at 3000m, and almost never descends below 1500m; nest sites are at heights where many species would perish. The eggs have adaptations to the thin atmosphere that improve oxygen take-up and reduce water loss. It has glossy black plumage, a yellow beak, red legs, and a distinctive thin, trilling, whistling call. the monogomous alpine chough breeds – usually in a cave or crevice in a cliff face or high mountains – from Spain eastwards through southern Europe and North Africa to Central Asia and Nepal.
