WATCH: Bird wedges self between babies and gator

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. - It doesn't matter how big this alligator was, this bird was making sure its feelings were known not to mess with its babies at a Florida golf course.

Greg Shine, who works at the Eagle Marsh golf course in Jensen Beach, says he spotted the alligator coming out of the marsh and walking toward the practice putting green near the driving range. Shine says he was about 20 feet away from the alligator and began to follow it while it walked along the marsh and driving range, and took video of it.

There were four sandhill cranes nearby, Shine said, a mom, dad, and two babies, and they were on alert.

What appeared to be the mother and father bird walked toward the alligator and one of them spread its wings, walking alongside the alligator as if to shield the babies from danger. "I've never seen anything like that, the bird protecting its young," Shine said.

The alligator didn't seem to pay the bird any mind, nor did the bird seem to care that it was in any danger by trying to intimidate the gator, which walked back along the golf course toward the woods.

Shine says the golf course is full of wildlife from snakes to alligators and even panthers, but he's never seen an alligator venture out near the carts and the driving range. He says now he'll be very careful at the edge of the marsh.