When seeing an eagle encroaching on its foraging territory, the giant heron angrily launched a kung fu attack to drive it out of the lake at the Zimanga wildlife reserve in South Africa.
Photographer Max Waugh captured this rare sight. First he spotted Goliath heron (scientific name: Ardea goliath) approaching an African eagle perched on a dry tree trunk.
Max Waugh said that the heron was very angry when it saw the eagle invading its feeding territory in the lake, so it rushed towards the eagle with the intention of chasing away the intruder.
When the eagle saw the heron attacking, it quickly spread its wings and flew away to avoid it. And a fierce dogfight took place between the giant Goliath heron and the African eagle. In this fight, both the heron and the eagle took advantage. Therefore, the battle was quite even.
The heron, with its wide wingspan and long legs, continuously launched kungfu attacks against the eagle. Faced with the opponent’s dangerous consecutive attacks, the eagle finally had to run away to ensure its own safety.
The Goliath heron weighs twice as much as the African eagle with a height of 120–52 cm, a wingspan of 185–230 cm and a weight of 4–5 kg. The Goliath heron is also the largest living heron in the world. They commonly live in sub-Saharan Africa, Southwest and South Asia.
Goliath herons often catch prey by putting their long, large beaks into the water.