It is rare, however, to find adult birds apart from the parents assisting in rearing young birds. The Formosan blue magpie is the only species of bird in Taiwan where other adult birds share in the task of feeding the fledglings, dubbed by ornithologists the "nest-side helper system."
雙親以外的成鳥協助撫育幼鳥則不多見，目前台灣鳥類中，台灣藍鵲是唯一已確知由多隻成鳥共同進行育雛的鳥類，學者將之稱為「巢邊幫手制度」。