Bald eagle, fox, and cat are porch friends

[Video Link] Contented creatures on a porch in Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands.

See how the fox, eagle and cat are all just fine hanging out and no one is trying to attack anyone and they are getting along just fine? Notice the eagle in the background on the lamp post down by the street. That is the partner to this eagle. They aren't always out to attack and kill each other. Our fox and eagles and cats basically get along just fine here. Sometimes if there is food they might fight over the food some. I live in Unalaska, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. Also, earlier in the day when the fox first came Gizmo my cat went right up to the fox and told him to leave. It was too funny! But the fox came right back!

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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http://twitter.com/MadelineAshby Madeline Ashby

Snow White is alive and well in Alaska.
- http://twitter.com/nagmay Gabriel Nagmay
  
  In the extended version: The screen slowly fades to black… suddenly, we hear the poor woman’s screams and muffled cries for help.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8834925 Chauncey Scott

Yea, she’s not feeding the wildlife.
Matt Grimm

I hate to break the fourth wall, but I find it more amazing that these creatures are complacent in the presence of the human recording the video.
- Judas Peckerwood
  
  When you feed wild animals, they become accustomed to humans and begin to associate them with food. Which is why feeding wild animals is stupid.
scolbath

Sights like this would ALMOST make it worth living in Unalaska, Alaska.
plumblove

I don’t want to be the first to cry Photoshop on this. But what’s with the weird distortions happening throughout the clip?
- Michael Sheehan
  
  I was wondering the same thing. It seems legit enough, but those strange fisheye distortions whenever it pans are curious indeed.
  - Matt Ward
    
    I think this is a rolling shutter problem. Olympus’ compact system cameras suffer from it if you want to google for a look.
    - zarray
      
      Yeah, notice it mostly does it during strong light changes.
- ahecht
  
  Looks like overly aggressive post-processing image stabilization/vibration reduction/anti-shake.
- Judonerd
  
  I believe this is the effects of the Warp Stabilizer plug-in, a new addition to After Effects 5.5. Rolling shutter + advanced image stabilization = strange “flexing” video effect.
  
  If they used After Effects, you could make a strong argument that this entire video is a fake.
  - Judonerd
    
    Because of the pixels.
    
    :)
    - http://claimid.com/shana Andreia
      
      You’ve probably seen quite a few shops in your time, eh?
      - http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
        
        It’s 2012…will this meme EVER die!?!?
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        It’s not a meme; it’s a mental illness. So probably not.
- Jake Mauer
  
  YouTube has an auto-stabilization feature you can turn on when you edit a video on the site itself. Every video I’ve tried it with gives the same style of distortion.
  - http://twitter.com/bradbelltv Brad Bell
    
    The video is being stabilised, but the jello artefacts and motion blur from shaking the camera remain.
- Ipo
  
  I thought snowflakes melting on the lens.
  There are several other videos by this lady with those animals.
- Joshua Schechter
  
  I agree. It’s a fake.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/G5HURU2SKNOJDSMIEVZ6ATGG4A Erica
    
    It’s not. It’s my mom’s video.
    - tubacat
      
      It’s a wonderful video, and the other ones with the cats and eagles are too. I would worry that my cat would be too cold in the snow, but yours seem just fine!
      
      Thank your mom for posting it (and don’t worry about people who think it’s fake – for some reason, some folks who post here can be a bit cynical…)
  - social_maladroit
    
    Perhaps it’s an optical Aleutian.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/G5HURU2SKNOJDSMIEVZ6ATGG4A Erica
  
  She addresses in on her youtube page. Simply something to do with the video and what happened after she uploaded it to youtube. Some different software. Don’t quite understand it myself. But the point is, not fake. As real as it gets.
  - Guest
    
    Just like Alaska, too weird to believe unless you’ve been there
- Sean Nelson
  
  Youtube’s new video stabilization. It’s pretty nauseating. I’d rather see shaky video.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Beth-Cravens/704440406 Beth Cravens

My cat had a possum buddy. Weird coming home to find both of their heads in the foodbowl.
- trogdorian1
  
  thought you meant you found both of their severed heads in a food bowl, would have made a far more interesting story.
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness
  
  The Virginia Opossum is a slow moving version and less violent version of the honey badger . They don’t back down from anything.
  - http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/5OQFBZ26C3VQ5ONGZGDBDY4BUU Mark A
    
    And stupid. Don’t forget stupid.
    - Ipo
      
      They are the smartest marsupial in North America.
    - cdh1971
      
      They’re not stupid, they are roughly as smart as a dog in terms of problem solving tasks, and they actually can make really sweet pets that get along with dogs and cats.
      
      The cats and one dog I’ve had over the years have been pals with these critters and my neighbours here (Eugene, OR) have similar stories. One of my friends in middle-school had one as a pet – what a character, the possum was too. He had a starling that talked and liked to ride on the possum’s back. Both the starling and possum were rescue animals that were brought to a non-profit animal shelter and his family were volunteers with this shelter.
      
      Possums are not native to the west coast. They were brought here as pets in the 1930′s, many by Forest Service employees.
      
      The reason why people think they are stupid is they sometimes get hit by cars in the morning as they scurry home – they are more used to the dark and dusk. They also are more likely to practice cannibalism than other critters.
      
      BTW – they cannot get rabies – something about their body temperature and the rabies virus not evolving to infect marsupials.
- cdh1971
  
  This is sooo common. The cats and possums where I live seem to have some sort of secret society. My family’s cats always have hung out with and shared food bowls with the possums. The neighbours also notice this.
Samuel Valentine

Same porch here – seems to confirm despite the odd distortion in the posted video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUDfB7BpUM0&feature=relmfu
GawainLavers

Is Unalaska a place where people elect sane, competent and honest politicians?
- waetherman
  
  That would be Unalaskan!
John Maple

For some reason, I kept thinking about Dr. Suess when I listened to the narration.
It’s pretty nice to see this.
ComradeQuestions

Is her cat named “suitcase”?

I also like how she sorta just glosses over the eagle as if that’s the *least* amazing thing there. “Oh hey eagle… NO DON’T TRY TO COME IN THE HOUSE, SUITCASE!”
- Jeff
  
  Well, looking at some of her other videos, an eagle on the porch IS kinda run-of-mill. A fricken’ eagle!
- http://instantaneousinstances.com/ Spieguh
  
  In parts of Alaska, eagles are our pigeons. Where I live, we had a woman who used to feed them constantly. The Daily Show even did a piece on it:
  http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-17-2006/helms—the-eagle-has-loitered
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/G5HURU2SKNOJDSMIEVZ6ATGG4A Erica
    
    We have 850 resident eagles in Unalaska and 4,000 residents. That’s a lot of eagles.
carlodog

I want her to pick up that piece of wood with the nail sticking out. Pick it up! Throw it away before someone steps on it!

Oh yeah, the animals are cute too.
- Jeff
  
  Saw this vid on cheezburgr the other day, and I could. not. believe. how many people were going on and on about the damn piece of wood with a nail sticking out. People, there’s an EAGLE and a FOX right there on the porch!
  - CLamb
    
    Maybe a nail sticking out of a piece of wood is the magic talisman of peace amongst creatures? I’ll have to try this on my porch.
Alexander Hu

”Okay, Suitcase should be back soon from planting the explosives. Once she gets back, Gizmo and I will infiltrate the– ohcrap– why hello, human..”
robdobbs

That eagle is like a vegetarian at an all vegetarian restaurant: he just can’t make up his mind what to eat.

Also, she’s feeding them: http://youtu.be/RZQeNSr_BgM
http://twitter.com/john_olmstead John Olmstead

Amazing how quickly wild animals lose their survival instincts once you start feeding them. I would expect this person will get a nasty visit from Fish and Game now that this has gone viral.
- waetherman
  
  She’s not feeding the eagle or the fox, from what I can tell, she’s just feeding her cats and the eagle and fox are probably attracted to the smell of the food.
  - Judas Peckerwood
    
    If she’s feeding her cats outside, then she’s feeding all of the wildlife in the vicinity.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/G5HURU2SKNOJDSMIEVZ6ATGG4A Erica
      
      Yeah, you’ve probably never had a raccoon or a possum or a squirel visit you….
      - Judas Peckerwood
        
        Actually, I see them all the time, along with deer, coyotes, rabbits, chipmunks and more species of birds than I could name. And they still visit my yard even though I don’t feed them.
      - social_maladroit
        
        Have you seen the eagle eating the cat food — either dry, or tuna?
        
        I live in an urban area in the Pacific Northwest, and feed outside cats. Raccoons and possums come by to check for cat food all the time. I’ve never seen any that didn’t bolt the moment I came outside, though. It’s pretty wild how that fox and that bald eagle stay put, even with a human in close proximity.
thecardcheat

Why can’t people get along like the Bald Eagle, Cat and the Fox.
- cdh1971
  
  Sir or Madam – I am a man, not an animal.
  
  For proof, I have attached a picture of me and my adorable blond adopted child, Scraps (touch the thumbnail to enlarge.)
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/5OQFBZ26C3VQ5ONGZGDBDY4BUU Mark A

Is this the start of one of those “Amazing Journeys” movies? I would watch it.
rikomatic

Human sacrifice, bald eagles, foxes and cats living together… mass hysteria!
flickerKuu

Why won’t she let the cat in? That’s cruel. I’m guessing that cat isn’t indigenous to Alaska and is freezing it’s tail off. What possible reason would you lock your cat out in the snow for???
- http://profile.yahoo.com/G5HURU2SKNOJDSMIEVZ6ATGG4A Erica
  
  They actually love the snow. Gizmo more than Suitcase though. He’s a bit of a momma’s boy and comes running when he hears her voice.
Gainclone

I think the cameraperson was on shrooms. That’s the only explanation for the spatial distortion and wildlife-themed hallucinations.
Ito Kagehisa

I have bald eagles, fox, and cats on my property too. But I don’t feed them enough to keep them from regarding each other as prey… our late, much lamented ginger tabby Maxwell tried to make friends with a fox.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I’d say that, at this moment in our cultural evolution, if eagles were killing cats, we’d have a new national bird as fast as 4chan could shut down the government.
  - http://instantaneousinstances.com/ Spieguh
    
    It all depends on the ratio of hungry eagle to inattentive kitty. Some neighbors lost a puppy to an eagle (picked it up, flew up about 100 feet and let go), and several tourists have their small dogs taken every year.
    
    Cats seem to put up too much of a fight for eagles, so it’s mostly the coyotes and wolves that get them. We don’t let our cats go outside.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      We have cat-eating owls. They get into fenced back yards where the coyotes can’t go.
      - http://instantaneousinstances.com/ Spieguh
        
        Owls are awesome. We have a couple of species up here that could definitely take a cat, but seem pretty content with all the snowshoe hares that abound.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I suspect that one particular great horned owl is responsible for all the local cat murders.
      - Guest
        
        We have fisher cats. Three cheers for giant carnivorous ferrets!!!
    - zarray
      
      I know people love their diminutive dogs, but the idea of an eagle just taking off with one gives me the giggles.
  - Guest
    
    I think it’s already a pretty apt metaphor.
http://twitter.com/bradbelltv Brad Bell

If you take away the eagle, the sight is not that uncommon, even somewhere like the middle of a city like London. We’ve had foxes living in the back yard and the cats – who are top dog – are generally very tolerant.

Imagine you swap out the eagle for a muscle dog. Absolute carnage. The lady is dead too.
Sparg

I swear I keep hearing in the background bits of the bass line from Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days”.
http://profile.yahoo.com/R5DQYCFJHJDGXDXEJRUOII5WOQ JessieL

This seems like an edited video to me. Not only are there weird distortions every time the camera goes to another animal it distorts…and never are all 3 animals (or even 2 for that matter) in the same shot at the same time.
http://disqus.com/Kimmoth/ Kimmo

I wouldn’t stop the cat coming in. The fox might as well get out of the cold too. The eagle would also be welcome.
JhmL

Alright lady, but if one of each sex wanders there the day after, check for floods and house buoyancy.
BambooJackson

Never thought it would be possible, but I just got the urge to move to alaska……probably one of the coolest videos online…and she has posted many of them! Way to cool!
donovan acree

She might want to get rid of the piece of wood with the rusty nail sticking up