Odd wood pigeon behaviour

[~T~]

Ok so one morning on the way to work last week I arrived at the bus stop as usual and I could hear a loud flapping sound. I looked across the road and near the top of a pine tree could see 2 woodies which appeared to be engaging in a little bit of "hows your father" Anyhoo nothing abnormal I thought though they didn't actually seem to be mating more like one was just trying to perch on top of the other, the one on top which I presumed to be the male seemed to peck at the one below quite violently but when the branch stopped moving and the flapping ceased just sort of sat there. After a few minutes the one on top hopped off onto the branch then to my surprise the one who was previously on the bottom hopped on top and exhibited the same behaviour. Then in an even stranger twist they were joined by a third woodie who sat on a branch below watching the other 2. In the time it took my bus to arrive the first 2 birds switched placed maybe 4 times with the third one trying to join in a couple of times only to be violently pecked by the other 2. I would have videoed this on my phone had there not been a couple of other people at the bus stop who I'm sure would have thought me a very strange fellow indeed

Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?

[werdnal]

Our domestic pigeons often take turns like this, so I'm guessing its true of wild woodies too.

They may also have been territorial fighting, as they flap quite violently at each other and try to land on one another and push their opponent off their perch. This seems more likely, as it would possibly have been 2 males fighting, and the female of one bird egging him on!

[actionfinch]

I have seen this several times in my garden and i think like werdnal wrote that its a territorial thing.
I found out some good info just follow the link below , and it describes what you witnessed some point in the document.
Taylor & Francis Online :: Territorial and other Behaviour of the Woodpigeon - Bird Study - Volume 5, Issue 2

[Meta menardi]

Woodpigeons are curious and complex birds. I used to think that , when an observer of behaviour said that if they were stuck in a place with just a hawk and a woodpigeon, they would eat the hawk and study the woodpigeon, they had a slanted view of life, but BOP are thick, woodies are strange.

Any one who could smarten up that quote, please do.