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A flock of alpine chough in front of a cloud-obscured mountain on the Eiger trail in Switzerland, near Grindelwald.

High fliers

Location The Eiger Trail, Switzerland

Some alpine chough on the Eiger Trail in Switzerland. They hold the record for the highest altitude at which a bird has been found breeding and nesting — a height of 6,500 metres. Their eggs are specially adapted to take up oxygen more efficiently in the thin atmosphere. As here, they usually flock together to feed. The only other species of chough (the red-billed chough) is found in the UK and I saw quite a few of them earlier this year during a trip to Pembrokeshire. Though they have been extinct in England for decades, a reintroduction project in Kent (from where they have been absent for over 200 years) which started in the summer of this year is showing promising signs that they can thrive here once again.

More details
  • Location The Eiger Trail, Switzerland
  • Date taken 19th September, 2023
  • Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark III
  • Lens EF70-200mm f/4L USM at 87.0mm
  • Exposure details 1/400s at f/7.1, ISO 100
  • Keywords
    • Alphine chough
    • Bern
    • Cloud
    • Eiger trail
    • Flock
    • Mountain
    • Passeriformes
    • Passerine
    • Perching Bird
    • Pyrrhocorax graculus
    • Switzerland
    • Yellow-billed chough