A wildlife photographer caught a contested lunch on camera, as a bald eagle swooped in to grab a rabbit in the jaws of a fox, in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.

The young fox was scampering across an open field in San Juan Island National Historical Park with the rabbit in its mouth, when a young eagle dive-bombed its lunch, lifting the fox into the air still clinging to the rabbit.

Bald eagle swoops in to steal rabbit from the jaws of a fox in the US state of Washington https://t.co/bqOe35Yw46 pic.twitter.com/XTJd197TLx

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"I don't know that I'll ever see anything quite that dramatic again," Kevin Ebi, the photographer who caught the drama on film, told National Geographic.

Dive-bombing to steal prey from foxes and other large birds is a commonly-employed hunting tactic for bald eagles. It's called kleptoparasitism, or piracy, and is used by a range of animals.

"They're thinking about getting food while expending the fewest calories possible," Ebi explained.

He said he checked on the fox after the incident, and it seemed unharmed and unfazed.