Date: 5/6/26 8:47 am From: Maeve Kim <maevekim7...> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] Agonistic behavior in purple finches
I have to ask, Google having failed me. I can find a definition of agonistic in pharmacology, and examples of agonistic vs. antagonistic in pharmacology, but nothing about the word agonistic in other contexts. Is it used as a synonym for antagonistic?
Maeve Kim, baffled in Jericho
> On May 6, 2026, at 8:08 AM, Michael Haas <ihateokra88...> wrote:
>
> Yesterday, while seated on the deck of my cabin at the border of meadow and
> woodland, I observed two female purple finches displaying agonistic
> behavior. They faced off among the low branches of red maples just above a
> feeder that was situated below. Both had visited the feeder, separately,
> prior to their interaction, but then, over the course of 10 to 15 minutes,
> they confronted one another on the branches above. Each displayed
> agonistic postures well-described in Cornell's "Birds of the World."
> Intermittently, one assumed a head high, pecking down posture, her opponent
> took a squatting stance, tail splayed, head facing up, beak gaping. The
> skirmish, as I said, went on for a while, as they flitted among the
> branches. Occasionally a third female entered the fray. It is interesting
> to me that only females were involved; no male was in sight. I
> surmise they were competing for a nesting site or access to the feeder.
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael R. Haas, VMD, MS
> 1286 Hazen Notch Rd
> Lowell, VT 05847
> <ihateokra88...>
> Talking In My Sleep <https://sleeptalkingguy.blogspot.com/> >
> “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t
> know.”
> ― *Mark Twain*
>
>
> "Hydrogen is an odorless, colorless gas that, given enough time, becomes
> people."
>
> -- *Edward R. Harrison*
