Yesterday two Indian mynas started looking at our rosella nesting box. I spent as much of the day as I could blasting them with the hose whenever they went onto the box. My husband climbed up to the box to check if the eggs or chicks had died in th heat last week (4 days of about 40oC). There were 5 eggs. This morning the Indian mynas were putting nesting material in the box. My husband climbed up to move the box lower in the hope that the Indian mynas would not want it but the rosellas would still come back to their eggs and every egg was gone - without a trace.
The rosellas already lost one lot of eggs because they were lost after the dust storm. Either they came back and laid again or new ones moved in and laid.
Does anyone know of any way to stop Indian mynas moving into existing nests and killing the young? We need to do something. We have had this happen over and over again in our nesting boxes. Imagine what is happening out in the bush. I believe Indian mynas and starlings are one of the biggest threats to our native parrots.
If we don't so something our future will look like this ...
... instead of this
Hi Birdgirl,
So sorry to hear that you lost your Rosellas to the Common Mynas.
There are services available (in some States and some Councils) which assist with trapping Common Mynas.
Not pleasant, but I am sure you are right that Mynas pose a significant threat to native birds and animals (such as Sugar Gliders) which nest in hollows.
http://sres-associated.anu.edu.au/myna/trapping.html
Ring your local Council Environment Officer as a start.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Birdgirl - I was so sorry to read your story. I wish I had an answer for you. Denis's suggestion is good.
Happily I don't have these pests in my yard, but during the excessive heat Mrs Bronzewing - who was nesting quite happily - deserted the nest, and I haven't seen her since. Her mate is continually calling, so I fear the worst.
I can only agree with Denis. Deeling with the mynas after they're trapped would cetainly be unpleasant but There is little else you can do I think.
See Yez
Trev
So sorry birdgirl, that would be heartbreaking.
I was horrified a week or so ago to see two of them on the roadside on my morning walk. fortunately they haven't found my area and I guess they would have a fight with the local noisy miner and butcherbird population around my house area.
Coming from NZ, where they are everywhere I know what it is like to live with nothing but sparrows, indian mynahs, starlings and the only thing to get excited about in your garden is the thrush and its lovely song and the blackbird. If you're really lucky you'll see the odd fantail or wax eye.
it's not a pretty look i can tell you.
good luck with the purge, I think you have to do it... a bit like cane toads. L'(
Good luck
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
As bad as this probably sounds my dad used to shoot any mynas that came into our garden with an air rifle. It has certainly seemed to work because we now never get any mynas in our garden, only natives. I also wouldn't be surprised if the red wattlebirds chase them away. They are so aggressive haha.
Thanks everyone. They move in so quickly and will not be detered by hoses or running and shouting - there is not time to trap them before they take over an existing nest. We will probably let them build now and remove the eggs before they hatch, as we have done in past years - at least that stops them breeding elsewhere.
The air rifle does not sound bad at all - it would be the only way to get rid of them - but unfortunately not allowed in a built-up area. The noisy miners did chase them but they were not put off.
Hi Birdgirl
People in Canberra claim they have trapped 50 or more Common Mynas from a single backyard, over a period of weeks.
It can be quite effective.
Certainly I support the destruction of their eggs.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Gidday Birdgirl,I was so sorry for you to read that bad news.
I agree totally in regards to what Phoebe has said, I used to shoot them on sight and one thing good about Indian Mynahs is they are very smart and get the message very quickly.
I noticed within a week of shooting them they totally disappeared and the natives returned.
Denis is also right in pointing you in the direction of the Authorities although its not the way I choose to go as they are simply more interested in 1.Not answering their phones or 2.Passsing you from one Dept to another, putting it simply they give me every indication that they are not interested.
Recently I (After 2 weeks of trying) contacted council to see if they were interested in sitting down with me and having a look at all the images I have documented of approx 25 species in the back drain (9 of them breeding) and discussing a plan to tidy it up a bit with the planting of native trees and shrubs to attract more species.
I never heard from them again and when I came home one day recently I looked over the back to see that they had come in with a 35ton Excavator and levelled the lot, 2 days after that they sent in a slasher and flattened every bit of grass and remaing shrubbery.
Two species have hung in there but everything else is gone!!
Birdgirl that is what Councils,Developers and Authorities do.
They don't care about wildlife its all about the buck,the only people that the birds can rely on is people like you and I and all the others that are here.
You do what you think you need to do Birdgirl to help those Rosies and good luck mate.
G'day Birdgirl,
You could try putting a Myna baffle on you'r nest box as shown in this picture. I see you have a removable roof section so this shouldn't be too hard to do. The picture is a scan of a PDF file page. I don't know of any other way to get this onto this forum, so I hope you can use Properties/URL to enlarge it to get the detail.
Ray
I'll try again.
I don't know what's going on here, I'm doing everything I used to do and nothing is happening. Has somebody changed the system and not told me. If you don't want me to contribute just say so, I've got broad shoulders.[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/32893111@N07/4142152540/ [/img]
I'll try to help.
This is the link to the Birds Australia Illustration, on Ray's site. You can go there and click on the enlarger button.
.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32893111@N07/4142152540/
That illustration is dated 2001, and the author asked for comments. So I am not sure if it worked, but it sounds worth a try.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Ray.
I can never post photos from FlickR.
Don't know why.
.
The link I posted works well, though.
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Denis
All my posts are from flickr, but yes they did change their system recently to allow for facebook style ID's on pictures so you can say who is who.
You now have to go to the all sizes page and select one to paste the location. Just another step! All in the name of the world's insatiable thirst for knowing every little thing on blogs and social networking sites! :(
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Birdie
Thanks for that information about FlickR.
.
I knew about the face ID thing - a powerful tool for the CIA or someone, no doubt. I started to use it, but thought better about identifying innocent 3rd parties who appear in my photos - for "Privacy" reasons.
.
But I didn't know about the changed system for posting images onto our humble BIBY forum.
.
Many thanks for the tip.
Clearly I am not the only one who did (does) not know about it.
.
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
FYI, you can download the related information from Birds Australia.
https://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/resources/info-sheets.html
Item 9. Nest Boxes - Technical Information
My first 2 nesting boxes with The Anti-Myna Baffle, didn't have any problem with Mynas.
But latest 3 nesting boxes without The Anti-Myna Baffle, all invaded by Mynas.
Last week, I removed 3 lots of Mynas eggs from the nesting boxes.
Bryan
Well, there you go - first hand evidence that it works.
Thanks Bryan
Cheers
Denis
Denis Wilson
www.peonyden.blogspot.com
Tassie - I was upset, dismayed and frustrated at reading your story of your drain and the council.
We have all derived a lot of pleasure from seeing your over-the back-fence drain photos and I can imagine you being upset by what has happened.
Would writing to your local paper stir up some emotion? If we all sit back and do/say nothing these bureaucratic unrepresentative swill will go on rough-riding over us.
I won't say more - will get so cross that I could get thrown off the Forum!
Thanks Lyn, I am not sure what I can do about over the back,however I am going to write in to the paper about the lagoon at the Botanic gardens as that is simply wrong.
I will keep you posted.
HI Birdgirl
Sorry to read your story maybe you could but a shutter over the hole to a piece of string when they go in pull the string close the shutter then remove the lot to the vet.
Hi everyone
Thanks for your interest and comments. I'm sorry I'm not a regular contributer any more - the car accident really threw out my bird watching schedule.
Years ago we tried to find out what to do about Indian mynas but the councils seemed to show an initial interest and then put it in the 'too hard' basket.
We looked into traps but they were hundreds of dollars and the eggs are destroyed in less than 24 hours anyway - we don't want to kill multitudes of Indian mynas - just stop them taking our boxes (then again, maybe we do).
We had heard of the baffles, but Mrs Rosella flies straight into the nest without stopping - I don't know how she would manage if the hole was blocked. The babies also spend about a week climbing up to the hole and looking out before they fly - I don't know how that would affect them and when they decide to fly they just launch themselves straight out of the hole. We would miss seeing them too - we would lose all the enjoyment we get out of watching them.
Tassie - I was horrified to hear your story. You have taken some wonderful photos of your 'drain' and its inhabitants. It makes me sick to think of the council just destoying all that habitat. Maybe you'll come home one day and find it planted out with sugar cane or bananas.
Sorry to hear about the Rosella's eggs. Thats very sad.
I had an Indian Mynah turn up just the other day and my local bra boys, the squadron of Butcherbirds, swiftly gave it its marching orders. Haven't seen it back since.
Sorry to hear about the Rosella's eggs. Thats very sad.
I had an Indian Mynah turn up just the other day and my local bra boys, the squadron of Butcherbirds, swiftly gave it its marching orders. Haven't seen it back since.
Ooops! I accidentally posted twice...must have had the stutters.
After trying for many years to scare the Indian Myna birds away from our garden and having three nests in the roof of our house, I have trapped and euthanised 382 Indian Myna Birds from around our local area over the past 14 months. It is the only way to do it in a suburban area. We leave one bird in the trap and it calls the others. You only go near the trap in the dark and do not even look through the window during the day. We feed the Indian Myna birds puppy kibble they love it. I have recently found a large night time roosting area in two date palms where I estimate that there are at least 200 of them every night. I have started to trap around 10 to 12 a day in good weather. The locals stated that they have been building up and that their Superb Fairy Wrens had disapeared as the Indian Myna numbers grew. We can only try otherwise what will our children grow up with? Here are two photo's of our garden and we used to have many visitors to our garden but as the Indian Myna numbers grew the natives started to vanish.
Birdgirl that is just heartbreaking.
I'm so sorry to hear about those horrible Myna's. I'm so sorry that they're causing such an impact on our natives birds, even mammals according to Denis.
I've been travelling Oz for 18months now, through W.A and N.T and haven't missed them at all. I flew home to Melbourne for a wedding in Nov and saw them instantly! And as soon as I did my heart just sank. I'd forgotten about them, and those foul things are just everywhere down there it's horrible.
I think what everyone's suggesting is great. If everyone makes an effort in their own garden then that's a fantastic step forward. I'll be back in Melbourne for 6 months so I'll do what I can!
Also, has anyone with the Pizzey/Knight Field Guide noticed that they're pictured amongst rubbish. Very fitting indeed!
Old posts never die. We still have them very close by, in the next street and all over the whole area, but they did not get into the nesting box last spring. Our rosellas raised at least one baby.
When we went to New Zealand last year we saw them all over the north island too.
People make such stupid decisions to bring animals into other countries - haven't they ever heard of considering the consequences?
I am glad to hear that the Rosella's managed to raise at least one baby. Our family was blessed this morning by the return after a long absence of a Kookaburra sharing a early morning song. There is hope in the world....
It's not "just people" that bring animals into the country. Unfortunately sientists at the CSIRO are working on testing insects they want to introduce (let loose) to eradicate other introduced species of insects. How shortsighted is that? Get ridd of one and have another problem?
M-L
I am not too sure that CSIRO "lets loose" introduced species without doing exhaustive research and testing first. I can think of a few things immediately that have been let loose to eradicate problem species and have been of great benefit to the country. The spanish rabbit flea to help spread calicivirus, the beetles and weevils that control Paterson's Curse, the humble dung beetle to control bush flies, etc. And without the Cactoblastus grub the whole country would be covered in prickly pear. Goodonya CSIRO.
Spot on, Araminta. It's only a matter of time before a biological control gets out of control in spite of all the testing they do before release. The costs of introducing pests to Australia have yet to be fully tallied.
In passing, I note that the federal government has cut funding for research into cane toad eradication. How twisted is that???!!!
I read Birdgirl's comments about baffles and the possibility that they might be an obstacle to young birds launching themselves into the air for the first time. Does anyone have experience of this? They seem like such a good idea and it would be a pity if they made it hard for the first time flyers.
I would be surprised if Federal Government funding for research on cane toad eradication was ever intended to be continuous. Scientific work is being done at the genetic/molecular level and let us hope that the scientists' aim of wiping them out completely over time will be achieved.
Woko and Night Parrot - you might find this page interesting:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/ferals/cane-toads.html
'CSIRO has conducted research relating to broad scale biological control of cane toads. Searches were undertaken in the toad’s native (South America) range for species specific pathogens and when this produced no control agent, research began into a self disseminating genetically modified virus to act as a broad scale biological control. This work was discontinued due to technical hurdles and the prospect of limited support for the release of a genetically engineered virus if the project was successful.'
http://www.imb.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=48437
You might find this site interesting too Birdgirl.