“…They are, however, resolutely and aggressively solitary, perhaps even more so than scrub jays (Tomback, 1998). Azure-winged magpies, in contrast, have a “group territorial” breeding system (Brown, 1987), in which up to 20 related birds defend a common, multipurpose territory (Hosono, 1989; Komeda, Yamagishi, & Fujioka, 1987) and assist one or two breeding pairs in raising their young (de la Cruz et al, 2003). Like scrub jays, however, azure-winged magpies have a broad dietary niche and do not appear to rely heavily on spatial memory, caching only some highly-valued food items for short periods (Turcek & Kelso, 1968; Canário, Boieiro, & Vicente, 2002).…”