TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Chris Holwell watched from afar as mother nature took its course right in front of his eyes. A juvenile bald eagle barely escaped the powerful jaws of an adult alligator.

Holwell, a frequent Florida visitor from the UK, was exploring Orlando Wetlands Park, camera in hand, when he came across what would likely be lunchtime for a hungry alligator.

Zoom lens extended and focus pulled, Holwell waited as the gator lurked closer to its target.

In a split second, the gator lunged forward — mouth wide open.

With just enough time to react, the Bald eagle was off, “nearly not seeing its next birthday,” Holwell wrote in a Facebook post.

“So this was my worldy Sir David Attenborough moment.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), alligators are opportunistic feeders. Their diets include prey species that are abundant and easily accessible. The diet of adult alligators consists primarily of rough fish, snakes, turtles, small mammals, and you guessed it — birds.