The azure jay (''Cyanocorax caeruleus'') (

Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...

: ''Gralha-azul'', meaning ''blue jackdaw'') is a

passeriform A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird of the crow family,

Corvidae Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 13 ...

. It is found in the

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

, especially with ''

Araucaria angustifolia ''Araucaria angustifolia'', the Paraná pine, Brazilian pine or candelabra tree (, or ), is a critically endangered species in the conifer genus '' Araucaria''. Although the common names in various languages refer to the species as a "pine", it d ...

'', in south-eastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

), far eastern

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and far north-eastern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is the state bird of Paraná.

Description

The azure jay has a total length of approximately and it weighs about , and is the largest

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n corvid. Its

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is intensely blue with a contrasting black head and upper chest. Males and females are similar, although the females typically are smaller. Its breeding season is from October to January. This bird is a social breeder. It lays 2–4 eggs and its nest is made of sticks. It is placed above the ground in an

Araucaria ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen Conifer, coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 20 extant taxon, extant species in New Caledonia (where 14 species are endemism, ende ...

tree.

Diet

It feeds extensively on the nut-like seeds of ''Araucaria angustifolia'', but it is not strictly limited to this since it also feeds on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and fruit. As other

corvids Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 13 ...

, azure jays are highly intelligent. Their communication is complex, consisting of at least 14 distinct vocalizations. They form groups of 4 to 15 individuals that are well organized in hierarchies. These groups remain stable for up to two generations.

Folklore and culture

It is said that a black crow was on an araucaria tree, when it was scared by the sound of a man trying to take down the tree with an axe. Saddened by the destruction of its home, the crow flew to the sky, when it heard a voice saying that it would be painted with the color of the sky, and be guardian of the trees. And as a guardian of the araucaria trees, even guns would deny fire towards it. This folklore is based mostly on the habit this bird has to bury araucaria seeds to consume later, helping the spread of the tree across the region, and being considered the greater disseminator of the species. But above that, it shows the importance the araucaria tree, and the azure jay have to the people of Parana. It is the official symbol of the state (State Law n. 7957 of 1984), it gives name to the highest prize in theatrical arts of Parana (Azure Jay Trophy), and is the symbol of the soccer team Parana Clube. It also inspired the comicbook superhero O Gralha (the Jay/The Crow), a superhero created by artists of

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

References

Cyanocorax caeruleus - azure jay specimen(s) in the ZMA

External links

azure jay The azure jay (''Cyanocorax caeruleus'') (Brazilian Portuguese: ''Gralha-azul'', meaning ''blue jackdaw'') is a passeriform bird of the crow family, Corvidae. It is found in the Atlantic Forest, especially with '' Araucaria angustifolia'', in so ...

Birds of the Atlantic Forest Birds of the South Region Birds of the Selva Misionera

Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{corvidae-stub

Description

Diet

Folklore and culture

See also

References

External links