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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 124. No. 1. March 2012 
FICi. I Study areas in southern Brazil (Parana State) where Plush-crested Jay flocks were monitored: VVP(Vila Velh. 
State Park), KEP (Klabin Ecological Park), and RTF (Ribeirao do Tigre Farm). 
October 1995 to December 1996. We used 8 X 
35 binoculars for observations that began at 
sunrise and lasted all day. Field observations 
were conducted during 1.800 hrs. The daily 
procedure was to walk along previously estab¬ 
lished transects to find one flock, anti lo follow 
this Hock throughout the day. Particular meth¬ 
ods were used to document breeding and 
foraging behaviors. The birds were not banded 
but we were able to distinguish different flocks 
(at least 2) at each site as American jays maintain 
an area of dominance around active nests (Anjos 
et al. 2009). We followed Gill and Donsker (2011) 
for nomenclature of birds and the Missouri 
Botanical Garden (2010) for nomenclature of 
vegetation. 
Flock Size. Home Range, and Territory .—Wc 
recorded the number of individuals in the Hocks:i; 
the different sites and periods. We separated the 
year into two periods: the first when aggressive 
territorial behavior was observed between differ¬ 
ent flocks (the territorial period), and the second 
when aggressive behavior was not observed (the 
home-range period). We plotted each observation 
of Plush-crested Jay flocks on each transect onto a 
map (Luginbuhl et al. 2001) for both territorial 
and home-range estimates. We used these obser¬ 
vations to calculate the size of the overall territorv 
V J A . BI ,5 C| iaracienstics of areas where Plush-crested Jays were monitored in the Atlantic Forest, southern Bra/- 
V.la Velha Slate Park I VVP), Klabin Ecological Park (KEP). and Ribeirao do Tigre Rum (RTF). 
vvp 
KEP 
Vegetation type* 
No. tree species** 
Dominant tree species 
Climate* 
Average temperature* 
Average rainfall* 
Coordinates 
Total area 
Sample area 
Forest cover 
Grassland 
Human built 
Agriculture 
RTF 
Mixed rainforest (MF) 
350 species: 13% endemic 
Araucaria cingustifolia. Hex paraguariensis, 
Camponesia xanthocarpa, Ocolea porosa, 
O. odorfera 
Cft> 
>8 C 19.5 =c 
1,550 mm 1.700 mm 
25 15' S, 50 05' W 24° 17' S, 50 ’35' W 
3,790 ha 11,196 ha 
150 ha 
23% 
60% 
17% 
140 ha 
60% 
30% 
10 % 
Seasonal semi-deciduous forest (Sf 
220 species; 10% endemic 
Aspidosperma polyneuram. Cedrt 
fissilis, Balfourodendron 
riedelianum 
Cfa 
21 C 
1,600 mm 
23° 27' S. 51° 15' W 
1.285 ha 
150 ha 
20 % 
20 % 
* Mcndonya and Danni- 
warin: Cfa = subtropical 
——-----60% 
humid w7th warm summer-. 111 * Ro,la 1 ^kf = subtropical humid with warm summer t 
