Jaws Drop as Woman Greeted With Flock of Bald Eagles

An unexpected sight at a landfill dump in Alaska has left the internet in shock after the footage gained millions of views on TikTok.

The video was posted by @erynwhittern two days ago. It shows the moment she was at the landfill dump in the city of Unalaska and saw an impressive number of bald eagles hanging around the area.

Alongside the clip, the caption reads: "You could say I was SHOOK. There was even more when I turned around the other direction." Among all of the trash at the dump are tons of birds, picking at the trash and scavenging for anything they can find.

The bald eagle is a significant symbol of the United States, having been its national bird since 1782. Featured on the Great Seal of the United States, it appears in many government institutions and on official documents, making it the most-pictured bird in America.

Thousands of commenters were stunned by the footage and rushed to share their reactions in the comments.

"So you're telling me the bald eagle is the pigeon of Alaska?" posted one commenter, while another TikTok user wrote: "Bald eagles: Fancy seagulls."

"Is this normal?" asked a third. "I'm scared because they running from something or know something we don't."

A fourth added: "My cousins are from Unalaska, and they called them dump chickens."

It is true that the presence of bald eagles in Unalaska is not unusual. The Alaska.org tourism site says that the bald-eagle population on the island has fluctuated over the years, sometimes reaching as high as 700. The site describes bald eagles in Unalaska as plentiful as pigeons in other cities, offering visitors a rare opportunity to observe the national symbol up close.

Most of Alaska's landfills and municipal dumps attract bald eagles, with these raptors being savvy opportunists always in search of easy meals, according to Alaska.org. Unalaska's City Landfill, situated 2.2 miles out of town along Summer Bay Road, provides a reliable food source, drawing eagles in large flocks. The eagles are known to compete with ravens and seagulls for human debris, making landfills a hot spot for observing these majestic birds.

Others shared their frustration, with one commenter saying that he had been trying to get a glimpse of the birds; he even paid $500 for a tour in Alaska, only to find that they are all at the dump.

"Bald eagles love trash water is what I learned when I worked at the landfill," wrote another commenter.

Newsweek reached out to @erynwhittern via TikTok for comment.