This is the moment a brave mother bird stared death in the face – bravely protecting her eggs against a tractor that was about to crush her.

Footage shows the aggressive red-wattled lapwing mother fiercely screeching at the man and his machine to keep them away from her offspring in Kamphaeng Phet province, Thailand, on May 11.

Rice farmer Boonloei Sangkhong, 46, said he was ploughing his field for the planting season when he heard a strange noise nearby.

He opened his camera and drove to the source of the noise before encountering the aggressive female bird. She was staring death in the face and standing up to the tractor by expanding her wings to shield a small egg under her body.

Boonloei said the fowl was aggressive as if she wanted to fight the tractor but he later noticed that it was only trying to defend her egg.

He said: ‘Her mother’s instinct was very beautiful. I had to turn the wheels and leave her with her precious egg. I’m relieved I did not run over her accidentally.

‘However I’m worried about her and the egg because when the rain comes the field will be flooded. It would be dangerous for them. I will check again later in case she has not left the spot.’

Red-wattled lapwings build their nest in a ground scrape and camouflage their eggs with pebbles or animal droppings. The mother birds fly around the nest and diving at potential predators while calling noisily.