I have a question regarding 2 Eastern Kingbirds we saw today while doing some last ditch atlasing for this season. I hope someone can help me interpret this behavior so I can decide how to code these birds. There was 1 kingbird sitting high in a dead tree, along with some starlings. Another kingbird flew to the 1st one, they both flew into the air in a tumbling melee for several seconds. When they got too close to the ground, they would separate briefly, just long enough to gain some altitude & go at it again. This went on for a minute or more. Once during this time, they both perched in the same tree, close together, but then quickly resumed the "free-for-all". Eventually, they both perched once more, before flying off, somewhat together but not really. Were these birds a mated pair, 2 males fighting over territory, or 2 juveniles just going at it? They didn't really look like juveniles but probably hard to tell that. I would think it is too late in the season for the other types of breeding activity. The Stokes Bird Behavior book indicates there is no breeding after the middle of July. This behavior also looked like the behavior described in this same book that often takes place when a kingbird is attacking a raptor or some other larger bird but there were no other birds involved, unless you count the starlings that were just sitting there, minding their own business. Does anybody have any thoughts on this? Laura Dornan Stark (& sometimes Coshocton) Counties **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]