Graja
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| Graja | ||||||||||||||||
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| Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus Vaurie, 1954 |
The graja, pronounced as ['graxa:] (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax barbarus) is an endemic subspecies of the chough which only lives on the Canary Island La Palma.
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[edit] Etymology
The word grajo ['graxo] in Spanish usually means "crow," particularly the rook or the chough. In the Canary dialect, it got — which is not unusual there — a new gender and a new special meaning.
The graja is on La Palma also called as catana [ka'tana] (Spanish slang "clumsy thing") or chova piquirroja ['tʃoβa piki'rɔxa] (Spanish "red-billed chough").
There is no English name for this subspecies.
[edit] Recognition
The graja has night black feathers, a very long red bill and red legs which can be seen very easily also when the bird is flying. (Graja chicks first have yellow bills which turn red later.)
Their call is a loud and sharp "iaaa iaaa".
With a length of about 40cm, the graja is a middle-sized subspecies of the corvidae.
[edit] Living space
The graja can often be seen in the volcanic rocky heights of La Palma. There it lives mostly in caves and similar places. Wanderers frequently meet them as big noisy swarms.
As a hemerophile, the graja also likes trash cans at camping places - which not really everyone is happy about.
[edit] Food
The grajas' long bills are a very good tool for picking up worms, insects and their larvas, spiders, caterpillars, snails and other small animals.
But as the graja also likes organic remains and fruit.
[edit] Reproduction
At March or April, there are usually 4 to 5 eggs in the graja's nest.
[edit] Age
Grajas can become about 15 years old.
[edit] See also
- Canarian Black Oystercatcher, called grajo de mar on Lanzarote.
