Friends invited me to tour around West Sister Island on their boat. What a treat! A variety of egrets and herons nest on the island along with Double Crested Cormorants and seagulls. We encountered these two Herring Gulls engaged in a very serious territorial fight. Often battles between birds are more wing flapping, chasing and dive bombing. Physical combat is fairly rare. Being able to see the battle more closely through my lens showed that the bird on the left was in a very bad position. His bill was trapped closed by the bird on the right. The bird on the right also had a grip on the others head with the point of his bill very close to his opponent's eye.

Location: West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge, OH