Hi everybody -
I received the message below from Michael Brice in Canberra. I have
already sent a reply to him, but I know little about the current situation
there and if anyone else has any useful comments please send him a message.
He seems not to be plugged in to any email birding lists, so you should
contact him directly - but please copy any such messages to me or the list
as it is a subject of some conservation concern that should be explored
further.
Is there now any realistic potential for eradicating Mynas in the ACT?
Thanks,
Hugo
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From: Brice, Michael <>
Sent: Wednesday, 27 September 2000 13:22
To:
Subject: Common Myna Using Parrot Nesting Sites
Hugo
I have been responsible for the management of Canberra's urban trees for
much of the past 15 years. During that time I have noticed that many local
parrot species nest in hollows in urban trees.
In recent years I have noted a significant increase in the number of Common
Myna birds in urban Canberra and a subsequent increase in their use of
hollows in urban trees that were formerly used by local parrots.
I understand that some of the parrot and cockatoo species are long lived and
breed for a relatively long period. I wonder if anyone has studied the
impact of Common mynas and to some degree Starlings on the number of
breeding pairs of parrots given that the number of breeding pairs and the
subsequent number of offspring produced each year is directly related to the
number of nest sites. I would expect that as more mynas use nesting sites
several times a year that fewer parrot offspring would be produced each year
resulting in a slow and imperceptible decline in the parrot population as
aging birds are not replaced by young birds each year.
Do you have any thoughts on this issue?
Has anyone done any parrot population surveys to back this up?
How do we remove the threat that Mynas pose to our native populations as
their numbers sky rocket?
Michael Brice
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Hugo Phillipps
Communications Coordinator
Birds Australia
415 Riversdale Road
HAWTHORN EAST 3123, Australia
Tel: (03) 9882 2622, fax: (03) 9882 2677
Email: <>
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