The Fight

It was a rare weekend that I was at home and was chilling out on Sunday watching a movie on TV with family.. Sometime in the mid morning, we were suddenly jolted out of our relaxation by loud and persistent screeches of Mynas.









The first thing that struck my mind was that there was some predator which had attacked and got hold of a myna and the little bird was screaming for its life.
I called out to my wife, meanwhile rushing to get the camera and we both stepped out in anticipation of seeing a hunt in progress.

As soon as we stepped out, we saw two mynas engaged in combat and were just about to turn back when........

We saw another pair similarly engaged. For the average city dweller bird combat may be a rare event, but a double combat is a Show Stopper.

 The anger was palpable and the rage with which the birds went at each other was a sight to see...

 We fully expected to see atleast one bird either get injured or die in the combat considering the viciousness with which they went at each other.






Having never before seen mynas fighting each other so viciously, my wife and I were entranced in this rare behaviour scene being played out that we completely lost track of time or the fact that the sun was beating down on us.
 

Even when they separated and one bird tried to flee, the other bird just chased, caught up with the fleeing bird and the fight continued

After a while I realized that one pair was trying to get to one side while the other was hell bent on preventing them from getting there....

So it was all about territory or nesting sites. Real Estate has prime value even among the avians. So much so that they were even willing to roll into the gutter to fight for what they valued.

Then after close to 7 minutes, one pair decided that they had enough and took to their heels.










The Victorious pair then flew to a perch on a PVC drain pipe and began calling out their Victory song.

What a sight it was....a common everyday bird which is considered to be a pest in many parts of the world the Common Myna or the Indian Myna (Acridotheres tristis) is a highly intelligent bird and a major part of the birds' success in any new habitat has been its ability to adapt quickly to its new environment. These guys just about made my day...!!!