'Unbelievable': Bald eagle lands on firetruck's 9/11 flag display

[jpak]

Source: USA Today

A viral video captured Tuesday appears to show a wild bald eagle perching on the extended ladder of a Minnesota fire truck. That truck was taking part in a flag display commemorating the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"Unbelievable," Andover Fire Department Fire Chief Jerry Streich repeatedly exclaimed on the video he shot in the northern Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids. The department says the video has been viewed more than one million times.

The video shows two aerial fire trucks parked on an overpass, suspending an American flag between their ladders — a tribute to the victims and first responders of the 9/11 attacks.

The national bird landed on the top of one of the truck's ladders, paused for a moment on the edge of the basket, then flew off.

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Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/09/11/bald-eagle-lands-firetrucks-9-11-flag-display/1272794002/

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[Marie Marie]

1. How cool is that?

Pretty damn cool.

[Demovictory9]

2. Wow

[Throck]

3. Trump will take credit.

[john657]

4. What a beautiful and majestic bird. N/T

[scarletwoman]

5. I love Minnesota! My home.

Born and bred in Minnesota, I've lived in Colorado, California, Washington, and Alaska. But I always had to come home here to Minnesota.

Because, even our eagles are way cool!

[GulfCoast66]

6. All thanks to the Endangered Species act...

Which Republicans are trying to eviscerate.

I see them all the time now in Florida. I was an adult when I saw my first Bald Eagle.

[seta1950]

7. 😢

😢😢

[truthisfreedom]

8. Minnesota's Bald Eagle population seems to be exploding right now.

One flew into my yard last week in SE MN and my neighbor watches them nesting in a tall tree across the field from his house. We see them scavenging on the highway regularly and have to slow for them. It’s really something when they show up in Minneapolis!

[CaptainTruth]

9. A couple years ago I had a bald eagle land in the back yard.

I was working in the house & I saw a bird go down past the back yard windows with another in chase. We have a lot of osprey here & I figured it was a local osprey chasing off an intruder.

However, when I looked out the window, I saw a big beautiful bald eagle sitting in our yard about 30 feet away from the house. The osprey had a nest nearby & it had literally driven the eagle to the ground defending it's nest.

It was quite a site to see.

[Delarage]

10. The libruls

would kill it with all their damn windmills

[turbinetree]

11. MY Former Homestate................................MInnesota,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the Eagle are huge

[hell674]

12. Minnesota, I'll never live anywhere else

When I was growing up in a packing house town in southern Minnesota, every year, my mom and dad would take the family up north for a week in June, a week in July, and a week in August. Sometimes we'd go to a resort we had been going to for a while, sometimes we'd go someplace else but it was always up north. Brainerd, Nisswa, Walker were all wonderful new and exotic places to me. The big Paul Bunyan automaton in Brainerd was a tradition. One year, we were up on Leech Lake. I was 7 or 8 and in the middle of the week the routine of fishing in the morning and water skiing in the afternoon was interrupted. Mom and Dad threw us all in the Oldsmobile station wagon and we drove to Itasca State park. We walked across the Mississippi River and walked among giant white pines that somehow got missed by the timber industry in the early 1900's. We walked around for awhile and found ourselves standing in a line on a trail through the wooded shore line of Lake Itasca. After a few minutes, I am suddenly standing in front of one of these coin operated binoculars and a Park Ranger standing next to it. My dad fishes a quarter out of his pocket and puts it into the slot and I look through the binoculars. The Ranger is telling me I'm looking at one of the last seven nesting pairs of Bald Eagles in the area. Eagle population in Minnesota went down to 700 individuals before it began to rebound thanks to dedicated conservationists. Anyway, Minnesota and Eagles is a special memory for me and today was a nice bit of serendipity. Whenever I see an Eagle, I become a 7 year old again.

[ffr]

13. Video link

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/eagle-lands-on-911-flag-display-in-mn/89-593001396

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Here it is on youtube

[csziggy]

15. Election Day 2008 a bald eagle landed in the field in front of our house

While I was on the phone with one of the volunteers with our team. The volunteer was excited about the election but thrilled to hear about the eagle.

A couple of weeks later I had a celebratory barbecue for the Obama volunteers and that volunteer showed up, hoping to see the eagle in person.

I wish I had a camera at the ready, but did not expect to see a bald eagle that close to the house!