In Czech folklore, Jays are the guardians of the forest due to their habit to make an awful lot of noise when they spot humans. They also used to be game birds and considered to be a pest, but they are protected by law now all year round. So when a gamekeeper wants to adorn his hat with a jay feather, as per custom, nowadays he has to find the feather in the forest and cannot just kill the bird for them.
They are beautiful but tiny and rare to find. This one is less than 5 cm long.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Oh I love Jays. I have one small feather that I found some time last year, despite having Jays in the garden all year round.
It is good luck, indeed, to find such a lovely feather. The shadings of blue are a bit mesmerizing.
(I like to carry the feathers I find tucked into the ribbon on my hat.)
They are such an incredibly intense blue, lovely.
Very pretty! Here in the northeastern US we have blue jays, which have feathers that look somewhat similar though not identical.