This short 26-second clip shows a caged Black Eagle and a type of elegant bird called The Great White Egret.

The Black Eagle’s home territory is tropical and subtropical Asia, from Nepal to India and Sri Lanka. So the black eagle in the video is most likely a visitor to the Wildlife Park in Australia. The Great White Egret lives anywhere in the world where there are warm waters.

At first, the video looks like a hilarious scene wherein the egret watches over the eagle inside its cage. But then the egret tries to snatch the eagle’s meal using its long yellow bill. The eagle quickly responds to its meal being stolen by attempting to grab the egret’s bill using its sharp claws. Fortunately, the egret avoids the eagle’s potential attack.

The eagle quickly grabs its food and tries to eat in peace, but who wouldn’t be agitated when you know something is observing you and planning to steal your food? Well, we think this is what the eagle has in mind as he tries to put his meal away from the conspicuous egret.

The egret apparently did not know that trying to steal from a ferocious bird of prey is indeed a huge mistake. Normally, an egret spends most of its day feeding in shallow water. There is no shallow water in or near the eagle’s cage, so what is this egret thinking? An egret can be aggressive when feeding or defending its nest, but that is not exactly the case here unless the egret is hungry. The eagle is always aggressive, and as an apex bird, not accustomed to being challenged by anything.

As soon as the eagle drops the food near where the egret is standing, it stares at the egret and hopes for it to strike again for its food. When the egret thinks it’s the perfect time for it to grab the food, the eagle strikes almost immediately. holding the helpless egret’s long bill with its claws—similar to how black eagles use their claws to swoop over and grab their prey in the wild. The egret flinches as it struggles to get out of the eagle’s claws.

After the unusual fight encounter between the eagle and the disappointed egret, the egret finally gives up and decides that it should look elsewhere for its own meal. A great white egret and a black eagle have approximately the same lifespans of 15-16 years, so perhaps the egret has decided not to risk shortening its life by coexisting peacefully.