Late last month, Rene Rivera was driving near his home in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, with a few friends when they spotted something that made them stop.
A short ways off, atop a picnic table on the lawn outside a building, the group spotted a wild fox and a bald
eagle — hanging out together like two old pals.
“[We were] just cruising around and got lucky enough to notice it,” Rivera told The Dodo.
Rivera and his friends were in disbelief, as evidenced by their colorful commentary to the scene captured on video:
Though to Rivera and his friends, it might have seemed inexplicable that a fox and a bald eagle would share a peaceful moment so close to one another, Riley Woodford of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says it’s really not so unexpected.
“I’d say the fox and the eagle are perfectly healthy and this is fairly normal animal behavior. It does make an eye-catching video, and it is a bit unusual, but it’s not surprising,” Woodford told The Dodo. “A fox and a bald eagle are not really at odds. Bald eagles primarily eat fish ... It’s very unlikely to target a healthy adult fox as a prey item. And vice versa — a fox is not going to jump a bald eagle.”
But why are the bald eagle and fox hanging out on a picnic table?
“These two animals probably became comfortable with this spot independently, and now they happen to be at the same place at the same time, and they are comfortable with each other’s presence,” Woodford added.
It may not have been a friendship, but for one quiet moment, the fox and the eagle made for an unforgettable pair.
