Last year I watched dueling robins in a field. There were a couple dozen
robins foraging on a large grassy expanse when two hombres decided it was
high noon. They came facing each other about 4 feet apart. One lowered his
body to an even horizontal plane and pointed his bill at the stranger in
town. The stranger did the same. Then both of them, like a couple of wild
west gunfighters dropped both their wings so the tips touched the ground.
They each took about three steps closer and did the same behaviors. After
the second round, one duck down his head and charged at the other. I thought
it would be a battle, but instead the other one began to poke at the ground
like he was foraging, then looked up surprised as if to say, oh excuse me
sir, were you talking to me? The more aggressive robin then moved closer
and the loser flew a few feet away. As it landed, the closest robin
immediately faced off and both ran through the same set of behaviors,
causing the twice losing bird to fly quite a distance from any other robin.
I watched for more than an hour and saw 15 such duels. In only case, the two
duelers actually went into combat, then both flew off, one chasing closely
behind the other.


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
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