A fearless magpie has taken on a snake in a classic Aussie spring showdown.
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The battle between two of nature's formidable creatures went down at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.
In a video taken by Ricardo Mendonca, the snake appears to be making its way across a carpark when the pesky magpie gets in its path.
As the bird closes in the snake rears its head as though to strike before the magpie flaps quickly out of the way.
The footage was posted to the Canberra Wildlife Photography Facebook page with hundreds of reactions.
"Ah Australia where our carnivorous song birds fight one of the world's deadliest snakes. Nature sure is beautiful," one person commented.
"Yikes. Brave magpie," another said.
One person who commented identified the snake as the highly venomous eastern brown.
"Fantastic display of typical [eastern brown snake] behaviour to try and get away. When it has no other choice it makes a dummy strike, no aggression whatsoever," they said.
It comes during swooping season with the nation on alert for protective magpies keeping watch over their nest.
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