Communal feeding of nestlings in the Mexican jay (Aphelocoma ultramarina): Interflock comparisons

Observations were made on the individuals that fed the nestlings at six nests in four colourbanded flocks of the Mexican jay in Arizona. Communal feeding of the nestlings was found in one flock for the second successive year. Data collected over the entire nestling period show that helpers accounted for 46 to 68 per cent of the feedings at the five nests most intensively studied. At some nests certain individuals brought food to the nestlings more frequently than did the parents.