Azure Jay

Ranging through the endangered Araucaria moist forests of southern Brazil and northeastern Argentina, Azure Jays travel in cooperative family groups of up to fifteen individuals. They play an indispensable ecological role as key seed dispersers for the Paraná pine, caching fallen nuts across the forest floor where forgotten stores sprout into new trees. Celebrated as the state bird of Paraná, their presence is signaled by a distinctive repertoire of loud, metallic rattles and ringing calls carrying across the canopy.