I love blue jays.  They have always been my favorite song bird.  I know they are viewed as mean.  I see them as territorial.  Of course I also adore them because they’re blue.  But I did not learn until about a year ago their sound is meant to imitate a hawk.  Fascinating!  As a wolf lover I realize the importance of our apex predators as well as our keystone species.  Like the wolf, they are very intelligent and form tight familial bonds.  I think its brilliant that they use the hawk’s cry as a warning to other birds.  Anyway, I collect blue jay feathers — naturally shed of course.  I guess it’s a bit like seashell hunting in a land-locked city.  I used to have a lot of them artfully arranged in a pretty little bud vase until the cats went berserk and ate/mangled them all.  *sigh*  So I am now starting over and this time I’ll put them in my sitting room in my closet which I keep closed.  The Scottish playwright and poet Joanna Baillie once wrote, “A willing heart adds feather to the heel.”  Every time I discover a cherished blue jay feather on one of my walks I feel my heart expand and, for one brief second, it is as if my feet could take flight.  Some people find pennies lucky; for me it’s blue jay feathers.  Whatever it is one discovers unexpectedly that brings them delight and makes them feel fortunate … well who could not do with a little more of that?