Common Mynas

[John Harris <>]

Philip, I know you were not responding to anything I said but to something lower down in the email chain. I would have to say I have indeed observed a decrease in mynas locally at least.  While I still observe mynas behaving in the in the way I reported below, there do seem to be fewer than 10 years ago. Occasionally I see a very big flock but it moves on. The ‘resident’ little flock is nowhere near the size it used to be and some days I don’t see them at all. They do, however, seem to be naturalised on Percival Hill. These are not large numbers but those on PH act like they live there.

From: Philip Veerman <>
Date: Tuesday, 2 February 2016 at 2:31 PM
To: chatline <>
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Common Mynas

I disagree entirely with this assessment “It appears that we are well and truly losing the battle against this species locally.” I suggest this is a defeatist Tony Abbott type of slogan (admittedly it is more than three words). The evidence locally clearly shows a dramatic turnaround in the previous rate of increase and congratulations for the efforts. So the war is not over but it has advanced dramatically.

 

Philip

 

 

 

From: John Harris
Sent: Tuesday, 2 February 2016 12:47 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Common Mynas

 

They do obviously seem to prefer open farmland, suburban gardens etc but here, backing onto Ginninderra Creek and Percival Hill, I see them happily doing whatever they do in both modified and natural habitats. They are certainly in my garden and on the grass flats between me and Ginninderra Creek.  Beyond the creek, they are always on Percival Hill in the open forest. Although I have not particularly studied them, they appear to be resident on Percival Hill more than they appear to be resident closer to my house. When disturbed they may fly to a tree nearby but often when disturbed they fly across the creek to Percival Hill. It seems to me that PH is home at least for this flock and that they forage on the urban fringe of the forest rather than the other way around.  Impressionistic I know but they do seem to be naturalised.

 

 

 

 

From: Daryl King <>
Date: Tuesday, 2 February 2016 at 12:22 PM
To: chatline <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Common Mynas

 

Con,
Mynas evolved from woodland specialists.  They do not use hollows in Sydney forests ( see Richard Major's research) and do best in Canberra where the canopy structure is that of open woodland (see Kate Grarock's research).  They will do very nicely in undisturbed woodland as their range expands.
Regards,
Daryl

On 2/02/2016 10:15 AM, Con Boekel wrote:

Mark
We regularly spend some time in a rural area 100km north of Melbourne. There have been flocks of dozens of mynas there for some years. They don't appear to be able to exist in undisturbed bush (for example, I have never seen one in Black Mountain Nature Reserve) - although they will fly to the edges for breeding hollows.
regards
Con

On 2/02/2016 10:03 AM, Mark Clayton wrote:

Coming back from Orange last Saturday morning via Cowra and Boorowa, I recorded three separate Common Mynas along the route. The first was in Boorowa itself, several hundred metres before leaving the town toward Yass. Another bird was seen approximately 10 kilometres before the Boorowa road joined the Hume Highway – I have seen a bird in this area previously some time ago – and the third bird was seen 7 kilometres from the highway junction. I have previously noted birds near the Uriarra Crossing in the ACT and am seeing the species further and further out to Tharwa in farmland. It appears that we are well and truly losing the battle against this species locally. In Victoria I have seen the species well away from human habitation in rural areas; the same now appears to be happening locally.

 

Mark

 

PS, also of note on this trip were two Blue-winged Parrots seen flying at the Rose Garden Cafe in Cowra, the first of this species I have seen in a long time.