birding-aus

Indian Mynah control

To: Penny Brockman <>
Subject: Indian Mynah control
From: Annabel Ashworth <>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:16:01 +1100
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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