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Re current talk about Common Myna traps: If you can get a copy of Bird
Banding by Elliott McClure (1984) you'll find it contains descriptions and
diagrams of many different bird traps, several easily constructed from scrap
timber, netting wire etc. I've not read it thoroughly for a good while, but I
think some traps (perhaps with a little modification) would work with
mynas. For example, there's one trap, designed for House Sparrows, which McClure
acknowledges as being a modified, scaled-down, Australian crow trap.
Elliot McClure is a venerable California birdman who, I suspect, may
now be birding somewhere in a big celestial nature park. He originally compiled
the material (some drawn from The Australian Bird Bander) in
1963 for use by an outfit called the Migratory Animal Pathological Survey of
Eastern Asia.
There's also interesting stuff on bat catching and preservation of dead
birds together with their ectoparasites, as well as a tantalising, albeit
perfunctory, description of an explosive-powered cannon net. I reckon this one
has real potential for modification to a myna trap - just insert fragmentation grenades in lieu of
netting (my suggestion, not McClure's). Disappointingly, the good Dr McClure
deftly sidesteps further detailed technical description by advising,"The bander
who attempts this method can fortify himself with information from the
manufacturer." Drat!
Your innovative member
John Layton.
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