Editing Alpine chough (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Picos393.JPG|thumb|alt= high grey bare cliffs behind a meadow|Cliffs with nearby alpine pasture provide nesting sites.]]
The Alpine chough breeds in mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europe and the [[Alps]] across [[Central Asia]] and the [[Himalayas]] to western China. There are also populations in [[Morocco]], [[Corsica]] and [[Crete]]. It is a [[bird migration|non-migratory resident]] throughout its range, although Moroccan birds have established a small colony near [[Málaga]] in southern Spain, and wanderers have reached [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Gibraltar]], [[Hungary]] and [[Cyprus]].<ref name= Madge94/>

This is a high-altitude species normally breeding between {{convert|1260|-|2880|m|ft}} in Europe, {{convert|2880|-|3900|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Morocco, and {{convert|3500|-|5000|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the Himalayas.<ref name= Madge94/> It has nested at {{convert|6500|m|ft|abbr=on}}, higher than any other bird species,<ref name= bahn>{{cite journal| last= Bahn | first= H. |author2=Ab, A. | year= 1974 | title= The avian egg: incubation time and water loss | journal= The Condor | volume= 76 | issue=2 | pages= 147–152 | url = http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v076n02/p0147-p0152.pdf | doi =10.2307/1366724 | jstor= 1366724}}</ref> surpassing even the red-billed chough, which has a diet less well adapted to the highest altitudes.<ref name =Rolando2/> It has been observed following mountaineers ascending [[Mount Everest]] at an altitude of {{convert|8200|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Nature's champions: the biggest, the fastest, the best|author1=Silverstein Alvin |author2=Silverstein, Virginia | publisher = Courier Dover Publications |year=2003 | isbn=978-0-486-42888-8| page= 17}}</ref> It usually nests in cavities and fissures on inaccessible rock faces, although locally it will use holes between rocks in fields,<ref name= Baumgart >{{cite journal | last= Baumgart | first= W. | year= 1967| title= Alpendohlenkolonien in Felsschächten des Westbalkan | journal=Journal für Ornithologie | volume= 108 | pages= 341–345 | doi= 10.1007/BF01671883 | issue= 3 | bibcode= 1967JOrni.108..341B | s2cid= 41532963 |language=de}}</ref> and forages in open habitats such as [[alpine meadow]]s and [[scree|scree slope]]s to the [[tree line]] or lower, and in winter will often congregate around human settlements, [[ski resort]]s, hotels and other tourist facilities.<ref name= BWP/> Its penchant for waiting by hotel windows for food is popular with tourists, but less so with hotel owners.<ref name= goodwin/>