Ethiopian Choughs to be Studied

Abstract from Functional Ecology
4th May 1996

The British Ecological Society has made a small ecological project grant, worth £700, to Dr Anne Delestrade of the Edward Grey Institute at Oxford to study Choughs in Ethiopia.

The Chough is a small crow with a spectacular red bill and red legs. There are populations of these birds in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and also in the Canary Islands and various parts of the Mediterranean. Those in Ethiopia are a separate race - Pyrrhocorax p. baileyi - and are further South than any others. They exist in the mountains at Simiens and Bale - two localities 900 kms apart (twice as far apart as London is from Paris).

No one has studied them in detail before. Anne, who has studied Alpine Choughs, which have yellow bills, as well as the Red- billed ones, will be trying to gather essential details on their distribution and populations. She will be particularly concerned with any problems there are for their conservation and continued well being. She plans to be in Ethiopia in October, November and December and we will hope to carry a report on her findings when she returns.