I have a new theory as to why the Red-eyed Vireo never shuts up. It is = because they are perhaps the most territorial of birds, confirmed by = some behaviors I have observed. I was at a friend's lake home near Stone = Lake, WI last weekend and spent hours listening to the Vireo's chanting, = back up music for the late migrating Blackpolls, many Pine Warblers, as = well as Blackburnian, Bay-breasteds, Redstarts and many that eluded me. = 100 foot red pines serve as well for concealment as they do for feeding = warbler. It reminded me for Townsend's Warblers in the Douglas Firs of = Yosemite, a neck breaking exercise in futility. As I was thus postured, = with a sort of pre-limbo curvature of the back, permitting me to place = my binos vertical to catch that ball of blue and yellow fluff that just = flew past, when I heard a scolding call being given just behind me. I = thought - Black-capped Chickadee, the call I had heard them use to scold = Screech Owls or cats or me, a resonant continuous scold, with an = underlying hum to the quality of the sound. Gnaaahhh gnaaahh gnaaahh = gnaaahh gnaaahh! I was surprised to see the source f all that sound was = Red-eyed Vireos squaring off in the underbrush ten feet away. I wish I = had my video camera. The birds were facing each other from 3 feet = apart; their wings splayed open and tails fanned, their wings vibrating = while held behind them in to a dihedral. I brought my binos up and saw = their beaks were wide open as they emitted this scolding call, both = birds were participating in the noisemaking and it was very loud. Most = birds can erect their head feathers along their crown to seem like a = crest, but these birds displayed a sloped up crest rivaling that of = Great Crested Flycatchers. The feathers erected to create a 45=B0 crest = that rose to a peak about =BD inch above the normal plumage of a = Red-eyed Vireo. The calls rose in pitch and intensity as one launched = itself, and the other met it in mid air. Cock-fighting imagery came to = mind, with the rapidly fluttering wings, the bodies held vertically = while engaged, the legs were held forward yet were not striking out = offensively. One bird quickly got an upper position on the other; both = were locked in combat as they fell furiously fluttering to the ground. = Much more e aggressive than similar fights I have seen in Robins, these = birds were striking blows with their beaks while they pummeled each = other with their wings. It seemed to last only 3 seconds or so until one = bird proved to be dominant, whereupon its defeated rival retreated = hastily, flying right past me, flapping furiously to accelerate, the = victor on its tail. The birds were still calling loudly, with a variant = of the scolding battle call I had just witnessed, more of chatter, = almost wren-like. Their fury was surprising, and it was all in all, a = tremendous expenditure of energy. It was so sever that I feared one = might kill the other. It was most exciting. The preacher bird protects = its pulpit, and woe to its rival. Good birding.
Mark Alt Brooklyn Center, MN
