I totally agree Penny, but i would like to add people who spray their houses
and fences for spiders. This has to have a detrimental effect on small birds
both via food sources and nesting material
Annabel Ashworth
> On 16 Nov 2020, at 5:06 pm, Penny Brockman <> wrote:
>
> A far greater threat to our small birds are cats and no ground cover for the
> little birds. And people keeping their gardens far too tidy - no undergrowth,
> no insects.
>
> I agree that Common Mynas show a worrying increase and are very efficient
> parents defending their youngs against most native birds, and I certianly
> don't want to see them in the numbers I saw them in Maui - truly 1,000s
> gathering in a farm yard and then roosting at night in trees behind the hotel
> I was staying in.
>
> Numbers are increasing in Gloucester, slowly but surely. Property owners
> used to shoot them when they appeared in spring on their barns and sheds to
> breed but with the increase in townspeople buying up small properties in this
> area, this doesn't seem to be happening and the birds can breed in peace.
>
> During a 3 year period (1914-1917) when I was helping a Newcastle student
> conduct surveys into mynas in Newcastle, Gloucester and Krambach, she noted
> that Crimson Rosellas and Rainbow Lorikeets could successfully keep mynas
> from boxes but that Eastern Rosellas were more likely to be evicted. She also
> noted that they were much better parents than the rosellas, keeping sharp
> eyes on their nestlings and attacking viciously any birds that came near.
>
> We caught about 200 mynas in all (not a serious catching program), most of
> which were euthanased, but that made little difference. I hated having to
> keep the captured birds in the bags until I could take them to the vet to be
> slaughtered. It would have been much kinder to do it when first catching
> them. One time I found attached to the side of the trap, the remains of a
> myna, chest eaten out and head missing - presumably a sparrowhawk had caught
> it through the wire.
>
> So please by all means target mynas but cats are worse, and people who spend
> all their spare time mowing grass, and spraying weeds with nasty chemicals. I
> expect I'll get some feed back on this!
>
> Penny in Gloucester
>
> On 16/11/2020 2:54 PM, Nevil Lazarus wrote:
>> Michael
>>
>> I agree totally.
>>
>> The decrease in bird species is alarming - and if one of the reasons is
>> flying rats 🐀- then this needs to be addressed.
>>
>> Best wishes, Nevil
>>
>>
>>> On 16 Nov 2020, at 2:43 pm, Michael Hunter <> wrote:
>>>
>>> Indian Mynahs are a pestilence on much of Sydney's suburbia.
>>>
>>> They can be virtually totally eliminated by blocking their nesting
>>> cavities, which are invariably under the eaves of houses, often via gutters.
>>>
>>> Trapping and wringing their necks ("euthanising") is never ending, stopping
>>> them from breeding is permanent.
>>>
>>> In Suburbia it would be a big deal for all houses to block off, but should
>>> be a program instituted by all the relevant Councils.
>>>
>>> Education pamphlets distributed to all households, possibly the provision
>>> of mobile teams of ladder men with a supply of old ("nylon") socks or wire
>>> netting would get completely rid of these "flying rats".
>>>
>>> Hopefully the return of many small native bird spp. to suitable areas
>>> would follow. Particularly areas without uncontrolled cat populations .
>>>
>>> I can personally vouch for this. The only Indian Mynah nest in a tree
>>> cavity that I have seen was short lived thanks to either goannas or other
>>> hole nesting birds . Not applicable in most of infested Suburbia.
>>>
>>> Yours Very Sincerely
>>>
>>> Michael Hunter.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> <HR>
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