Why Did Mama Tot's Box Of Blue Jay Feathers Get Confiscated?

Ophelia Nichols is well known and loved by fans near and far. The popular TikToker known as Mama Tot, has shared much of her life with her social media followers, including the tragic loss of her son.

Many of her followers have been sending her blue jay feathers in honor of her late son, and she's been keeping them all in a box. But Mama Tot recently shared what happened to her full box of blue jay feathers and it has shocked many.

While chatting on a recent episode of "Mom's The Word" podcast, Nichols reveals the shocking way she lost all her blue jay feathers.

"Mama Tot tells us a heart-breaking story about the blue jay feathers that hundreds of people sent to her while she mourned the loss of her son Randon ❤️‍? available on Spotify, apple & YT!!" the clip on TikTok was captioned.

In less than a day, the video has received more than 3.2 million views and has nearly 6,000 comments.

"When I buried my baby child, I buried him in the casket with a blue jay feather in his hand. I don't know why I chose to put that blue feather in his, I'd found it days before I lost him," she explained. "I find feathers all over my yard, I never keep them. They're not significant in any way."

Nichols continued to explain that she shared the story about putting a blue jay feather in her son's hand and that she got a blue jay feather tattoo, stating that it's very sentimental to her. After she shared her story online, people all over the world started sending her blue jay feathers that they found on the ground, and she saved every single one of them.

"I put them in a beautiful mahogany box that sat by my nightstand on my bed, and every night before I went to bed, I prayed over those feather and I asked God to bless every single person that sent me one of those feathers," she continued. "Those feathers meant everything to me."

Because of how important that box of feathers was to Mama Tot, she shared a video showing the world her feather collection. She explained in the video why she keeps them and what they mean to her. She shared the video on a Saturday and on Monday morning, something shocking happened.

Just two days after sharing her story and showing her box of blue jay feathers online, Nichols got an unexpected knock on the door.

"Derek [Nichols' husband] answers the door and it was a nice lady, just doing her job. She said, 'I'm looking for Ophelia.' And he said, 'That's my wife,'" she continued. "First and foremost, that lady said, 'I don't want to be here.'"

The lady at the door was the game warden of Alabama. She said she didn't want to do this, but she got a call that Nichols had some blue jay feathers.

"And I said, 'I got a bunch of them, why?' She says, 'It is against the law to pick up a blue jay feather off the ground and keep it. It is also against the law to mail them, to give them to somebody, any songbird,'" she explained. "You gotta leave the feathers on the ground."

Nichols said the game warden told her she understands that she wasn't aware of this law, but she has to take the box of feathers from her. She also told her the fine for having the feathers can be upwards of $250 per feather.

"And I had hundreds of them," Nichols said. "She said, 'But I truly believe that you didn't know.' I said, 'Do you want me to go get them or something?' She said, 'Yes, ma'am. I have to take them from you.'"

Mama Tot's "tater tots" quickly came to her defense in the comment section of the podcast clip. Thousands of comments flooded in to say how sad they are for this experience and how it's simply not fair.

"What is wrong with people. Mama Tot is literally such an angel," one person wrote. Another shared, "I don’t even know mamatot in real life but she is so precious and when people hurt her I wanna throw hands."

Many also commented about never hearing such a law before and others left remarks about how terrible it is that someone called the game warden on Mama Tot.

"I wouldn't have taken that small comfort from my worst enemy. People are so evil," one follower wrote. Another added, "Omg that’s so cruel. I remember her video she had so many feathers and it made her so happy. How can ppl be heartless and call and get that taken away."