--- title: Photo Shows Standoff Between a Squirrel and a Bald Eagle description: Roger Stevens Jr. captured a series images showing a squirrel and an eagle in what appears to be a very high-stakes staring contest. canonical: https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/ author: Wilder Davies article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-15T14:45:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:09.580Z og:title: Intense Standoff Between a Squirrel and Eagle Only Escalates og:description: The event took place behind a Rite-Aid og:url: https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Intense Standoff Between a Squirrel and Eagle Only Escalates twitter:description: The event took place behind a Rite-Aid twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Intense Standoff Between a Squirrel and a Bald Eagle Went Viral Because Things Just Kept Escalating ## Video: 'Emotional Support Squirrel' Gets Woman Kicked Off Flight and Then Everyone Just Had to Deplane [Watch (HLS stream): 'Emotional Support Squirrel' Gets Woman Kicked Off Flight and Then Everyone Just Had to Deplane](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jrnQWiFr.m3u8) (0:47)  _Published 2018-10-10. The passengers aboard a Frontier Airlines flight were reportedly forced to deplane after a woman brought her “emotional support squirrel” on board._  by [Wilder Davies](https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/)  ## Wilder Davies Mar 15, 2019 2:45 PM UTC  by [Wilder Davies](https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/)  ## Wilder Davies Mar 15, 2019 2:45 PM UTC A man in Lincoln, ME stumbled upon a truly tense standoff in the back of a Rite-Aid between a [squirrel](http://time.com/5493311/egg-roll-squirrel/) and a bald eagle. Roger Stevens Jr. captured a series images of the two animals from the top of a tree. [His original post](https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story%5Ffbid=2382904661743976&id=100000733952180), which been shared more than 11,000 times on Facebook as of Friday, shows the squirrel and the eagle in what appears to be a very high-stakes staring contest. Stevens wrote ” I couldn’t have made this up!! Gray Squirrel and Bald Eagle in staring match… Behind the Rite-Aide Store in Downtown Lincoln, Maine!!” In subsequent posts, Stevens shared more images showing the eagle attempting to catch the squirrel, which evaded capture by hiding in the hollow of the tree. Comments on Facebook varied widely. Some took sides, rooting for either the squirrel or the eagle. One commenter, clearly in the eagle’s corner, wrote, “Kill the tree rat!” Another admired the rodent, saying, “I love how powerful the squirrel makes himself/herself to be. The eagle is always majestic and powerful looking. But, man, the squirrel matches him in this moment.” In the end, the squirrel managed to survive. Stevens described the rest of the encounter [in an interview](https://bangordailynews.com/2019/03/13/outdoors/squirrel-emerges-victorious-in-treetop-showdown-with-bald-eagle/?fbclid=IwAR2pUgvD9Wqm%5Fp311cgNd8gZnaUQHevJZx7l3pMpAWuNZpWiXmujFQQbZ2c) with the Bangor _Daily News._ “\[The squirrel\] went right up the tree three or four times and got in his face.” Stevens said, “\[The eagle\] said, ‘Leave me alone,’ and he flew away,” Stevens said. “And he flew off over the lake.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/"},"headline":"Intense Standoff Between a Squirrel and a Bald Eagle Went Viral Because Things Just Kept Escalating","datePublished":"2019-03-15T14:45:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:09.580Z","description":"The event took place behind a Rite-Aid","url":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Wilder Davies","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/wilder-davies/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/","name":"Intense Standoff Between a Squirrel and a Bald Eagle Went Viral Because Things Just Kept Escalating"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"'Emotional Support Squirrel' Gets Woman Kicked Off Flight and Then Everyone Just Had to Deplane","description":"The passengers aboard a Frontier Airlines flight were reportedly forced to deplane after a woman brought her “emotional support squirrel” on board.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jrnQWiFr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-10-10T18:38:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jrnQWiFr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/","duration":"PT47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5552372/squirrel-bald-eagle/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```