Behaviour and stress response during capture and handling of the red-billed chough pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (aves: corvidae)

Abstract

We studied the effect of capture and handling on free-living red-billed choughs Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. We analysed the association between bird behavioural response and individual health, breeding status, sex, and age. Active responses (aggression towards the ringer, screaming) were more common in the breeding period, and individuals with a high heterophils to lymphocytes ratio, indicating poor physiological condition and/or high chronic stress. Adults were more aggressive than juveniles and yearlings, and females were more aggressive than males. Sex, age, and condition differences were also recorded in the spectrotemporal output of distress calls. Birds with a screaming/active response appeared to be more stress-susceptible than passive and silent individuals, and this response was stronger during the energy demanding period of reproduction. The results obtained suggest that the response of the red-billed chough during capture might primarily reflect stress-susceptibility, although a number of potential alternative explanations are discussed.