Chilly Cervinia

Here we are in Cervinia!

Fig. 1. Mount Cervino seen from Cervinia

Fig. 2. One of the working skilifts 

Fig. 3. Cervinia seen from a bar located in the upper part of the town

In the last few days my colleague and I went to the study area in Cervinia (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) and our puropose was catching Alpine Choughs, of course.

We found them on rooftops and flying over the town, looking for food in the streets where some tourists were present and ready to ski even though the snow cover was very thin. We counted at least 150 individuals that constantly moved from one side of Cervinia to the other, and back. For this reason it was difficult to decide where to place the traps but we opted for putting them in a small field that we found among houses and hotels: it was covered with a little snow but still grass and some shrubs were visible. As soon as we reached the field, a huge flock came flying over us, then it landed on the field and on rooftops of nearby buildings; so we placed the clapnets in a hurry using apples, raisin and persimmons😋

Our baits were compelling (and maybe birds were really hungry too) and we managed in catching a Chough in 10 minutes! 

Unfortunately the whole flock witnessed the scene and it was our unique capture fot the first day but the day after we managed in trapping a second individual in the same place. All captured Choughs were adults having black plumage with greenish nuances (as shown by the figures below), and they were poor in fat and muscle. Moreover that field was very useful since it proved to be often frequented by the population being rich in Alpine Chough droppings. Therefore we could easily collect a lot of samples useful to determine both the autumn diet and the presence of pollutants.

Wing feathers showing a black colour with green nuances

Intact black greenish tail feathers 

Looking forward to the next capture session...and hot chocolate!