Andy, I remember seeing exactly the same behavior by two red-headed
WP's
many years ago. The tumbled down through pine branches, landed at
my feet and
continued grappling on the ground for some time.
A few weeks ago there were two house sparrows on a sidewalk in a
shopping mall
here in Severna park, and yesterday two mocking birds in my driveway.
Some birds establish territory by singing --cf the hooded warblers
out in the swamp.
Some are a bit more direct & physical.
One could be uncouth and blame it on sex, or more discrete and say
"tis Nature's Way."
Your choice.
Leo Weigant
On Mar 18, 2009, at 10:38 PM, Andy Martin wrote:
> I have been checking an evergreen stand (adjacent to hunter's
> parking area off Montevideo Rd) within Seneca Crk SP since late
> last week for arrival of a Pine Warbler. Today, as soon as I got
> out of car, heard familiar trill and got binos on nice male. A
> couple moments later, the bird I was watching (not looking through
> binos at this point) started to tangle with another bird and they
> locked together and spiraled downward about 20 feet before breaking
> apart. Looked exactly like a miniature version of 2 Bald Eagles
> doing same thing on some nature show.
>
> I never got to see the other bird in the binos. Was this more
> likely two males fighting for territory or male/female courtship
> behavior? Thanks for help.
>
> Andy Martin
> Gaithersburg
> |