Sitting on the summit of Croz... : Photos, Diagrams & Topos : SummitPost

Comments

desainme - Nov 30, 2003 11:08 am - Voted 10/10

Interesting bird

You all have more crow family than the U.S. does-we have the American crow and the raven. You have these (euro crow and raven) but you also have the rook and daw How do you distinguish between crows, rooks and daws?

Gangolf Haub - Dec 1, 2003 12:47 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting bird

It's a bit tricky but mostly you go for the size. Ravens obviously are the largest but VERY rareley seen anywhere. Then you have the crows and rooks (I had to look that one up). As far as I understand the rooks are the crows with a naked beak (no feathers there). And then you have the carrion crow (all black) and the hooded crow (grey-black).

As for the daws - they are rather small (size of a magpie - which is another bird of the family) or jay (which also belongs to the family.

So the one on the picture definitely is a daw. You get them wherever there is a viewpoint with lots of people. And they can soar just wonderfully

Nelson - Feb 7, 2004 3:05 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting bird

Reminds me of the yellow-billed chough of the Himalaya. Same bird, different name?

Gangolf Haub - Feb 8, 2004 4:41 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting bird

I'm at a loss here, Nelson. I had to look up the chough myself and to me it seems that they must be related. But I only found the red-billed one, and with it a page by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which is great. It could distract me from S.P. for a full 10 minutes! And this is much! Have a look yourself.

Gangolf

Nelson - Feb 8, 2004 10:09 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting bird

OK, I did some research this morning, and got distracted from SP darn hear 1/2 hour! I am starting to think what you have captured there so nicely is in fact the Yellow-billed Chough as it is called in the Himalaya, or the Alpine Chough as it is called in Spain, and not a daw! These birds, like the ravens, crows, and magpies are all corvids, related species.

One can't rely on common names - what we call a robin in the States is a totally different bird than the European robin. So, we switch over to the scientific names. First here is a list of birds for Spain.

It shows both the choughs and the daw, which it calls a jackdaw:

Alpine Chough Pyrrhocorax graculus

Red billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax

Jackdaw Corvus monedula

The Yellow-billed Chough, common in the high Himalaya is also Pyrrhocorax graculus, according to my Birds of Nepal book. Here it is, looking very much like your bird.

Next, here is the jackdaw Corvus monedula, a different bird.

So, could it be what you have been calling a daw is really a chough? Perhaps they are given the common name "daw" in Spain?

Gangolf Haub - Feb 8, 2004 11:16 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Interesting bird

Thanks for the info. I think the reason for all this confusion is that all these birds here in Germany have the same family name: Dohle. And my dictionary came up with "daw". I'm very interested in these birds since as a young boy I read a book by Konrad Lorenz, the behavioural scientist. It's called something like He talked to the animals, birds and fish (somehow quoted from the bible, book of Salomo), in which he describes "his" colony of daws (I assume) which lived under the roof of his vast house. Whenever you get the chance to get that book: get it!

Gangolf

to post!