Golf course video of alligator versus crazy bird shows the bird sometimes wins

Images of massive alligators lumbering across golf courses have become a common in the southeastern United States, but a video posted Sunday on Facebook shows they sometimes run into trouble.

A golfer in Port Charlotte, Florida, said he spotted a "cool" standoff between a sandhills crane and an alligator and his video proves the crane won. (Check out the video here.)

"A sandhill crane with 6 (foot) wingspan was escorting an alligator from one body of water to another," Eric Drexler posted on Facebook. "He was actually protecting his wife and baby. That is one devoted dad."

The 40-second clip of the two creatures dancing across the grass has gotten 218,000 views and nearly 10,000 shares since being posted Sunday by Drexler, who is a national educator at Sulky of America.

Five hundred-plus people have commented on the post, and they seem to be split over whether the bird was brave or stupid. At least one commenter pointed out there is "no formal avian legal structure for determining marriage," so we can't be sure if the bird was protecting its wife or if the pregnancy was out of wedlock.

"I am surprised the gator did not want to attack the crane. Amazing how they just interacted!" posted Amy McCune on Facebook.

"The alligator could have easily eaten that bird," wrote Edye Twiggy Marchese in response to the video.

"We seen a Sandhill Crane fight off a eagle that was trying to take away one of their chicks. The eagle lost," posted Mike Que.

"Gator was clearly not hungry," wrote Norma Gangone.

This story was originally published May 2, 2018 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Golf course video of alligator versus crazy bird shows the bird sometimes wins."