Hi everyone!
today I was photographing some Australian King Parrots in our yard as they flew from tree to tree checking out hollows. They were hunted right out of our yard by the resident common (Indian) mynah birds.
I am planting understorey as I know this will encourage them to move on, but in the meantime I have to admit to preferring the presence of the king parrots over the presence of mynah birds, If I were to block up the hollow that they used as a nesting hollow, a hollow they return to often would this encrouage them to move off?
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
our local
Wollemi, if you put <mynah> into the search box at the top of this page you should get lots of information from posts about deterring Common Mynahs.
Essentially, it's a matter of restoring the original vegetation that grew on your piece of land, blocking any unnatural holes the Mynahs might be using for nest sites & ensuring that you & your neighbours don't leave rubbish lying around that they can use for nesting material. Also, I believe there are traps that can be used to catch them so you might want to approach your local council about borrowing one. If they don't have one pressure them to get a truckload & to conduct a Common Mynah extermination programme the likes of which seems to be having success in Canberra.
As far as your nesting hollow is concerned I'd be inclined to monitor it & clean out any Mynah nesting material you see being placed in it. At this stage I'd be reluctant to block it up until you see how your Mynah control goes. You need to provide as much natural habitat as possible for the native birds.
I have seen a few designs for nesting boxes that have "mynah baffles" to stop mynahs using them.
I think this is based on the idea that mynahs fly straight into the hole, while parrots may land below the hole and climb up.
Perhaps you could do this somehow, rather than blocking up the hole?
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane