Two gulls were photographed in a dramatic mid-air life or death confrontation with a bald eagle.
The battle occurred over the skies of Alaska, according to the the U.S. Department of the Interior who took to Facebook on Tuesday to update their followers about the fight.
Soaring through the air, the eagle was snapped with its feet holding one gull, which had its beak around the eagle’s talon.
A second seagull flew above, and nipped at the eagle’s feathers trying to get the bald eagle to drop the gull which it had snatched from a nest.
Scuffle: A gull nipped at a bald eagle, which carried a second gull over Prince William Sound
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, ‘David Canales captured this once-in-a-lifetime photo from his kayak on Prince William Sound in Alaska while on an 11-day expedition from Valdez to Whittier.’
The eagle won the fight, according to the Department of the Interior.
‘The gull above the eagle gave up and the other one wasn’t able to free itself,’ the agency wrote on its Facebook feed, which did not state what the relationship between the two gulls was.
On his own Facebook profile, Canales said, ‘This eagle flew right into a nest of these birds and just carried this guy away like nothing. A new respect for Eagles.’
Canales also posted the shot to his Instagram page and wrote: ‘One of the most epic sights I’ve ever seen.
‘Had just switched on my 400mm lens seconds before I captured this on my kayak.
‘Eagles in Valdez don’t mess around.’
Canales told Daily Mail Online he was leading a trip that included 7 others when the image was taken.
He said: ‘The shot with the eagle was taken on day two of the expedition.
‘We did a little side trip to Shoup Glacier and as we were exiting the bay, my girlfriend, Julie, and I witnessed a eagle fly in over our shoulder and attack a gull.
‘The eagle sat over the gull and as scores of other gulls started to approach the eagle, the eagle took off towards us.
‘As I’m witnessing this I open up my deck dry bag, and I’m frantically trying to get my short lens off my Canon 5D III and attach the long zoom lens.
‘Just as I attached the lens, we saw the eagle lift off with the gull in his talons and I started snapping away.
‘It happened so fast, I wasn’t even sure if the eagle and gull were in focus.
‘I usually shoot manual focus, but I was lucky that the lens was on auto focus when I started taking the photos.
‘I snapped about 15 photos in the sequence. Several gulls chased the eagle in the air, and the others gave up after a few seconds into the chase.
‘The eagle flew about 200 yards to a nearby cliff and started eating the gull.’
For more information on Canales’ photography, visit his Facebook and Instagram pages.
Getaway: The US Department of the Interior said: ‘The gull above the eagle gave up and the other one wasn’t able to free itself