Seen on the St. Croix: The eagle has landed ... on something big

Dan and Andie Goff of Woodbury had just motored their boat from the Afton Marina onto the St. Croix River Wednesday afternoon when they spotted something startling.

A bald eagle was clumsily floating on the water, using its wings to slowly row toward shore.

"At first, from a distance, we thought it was injured, maybe even a seagull, but when we got closer we could see it was a bald eagle riding on something," Dan Goff said.

That something was a fish — a big one.

Goff captured a charming video of the eagle landing a large muskie that was viewed almost 500,000 times in the first 12 hours it was posted on Twitter. At first the Goffs thought the bird had landed a walleye, then a bass, then, as the eagle deftly beached its catch, Dan Goff gasped and said, "It's a huge, live muskie!"

"Good job, buddy!" Andie exclaimed.

The big fish tried to splash back into the water, but the eagle wasn't having it, and pulled him firmly ashore.

The Goffs were taking advantage of the beautiful summer day to head out on the St. Croix for just an hour, Goff said. "We saw the eagle right out of the marina, right near a buoy," he said. "It was pretty cool."

Goff said on the way back, they spotted the eagle at the same spot, happily devouring his catch.