Andy, 

   It's that time of the year to claim territories. Many birds are doing it. Tuesday at Piney Run Park I saw two Hairy Woodpeckers tangling with feathers flying. 

Bob Ringler 
Eldersburg MD 
 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy Martin" <> 
To:  
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 10:38:54 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Pine Warbler behavior question 

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