Rintos Mail The Star 13 Sep 10;
MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY (MNS) has declared the mynah an invasive alien and suggested efforts to reduce the impact of this exotic invader on native birds.
Its immediate past president Anthony Sebastian said the mynah was first sighted in Kuching about 20 years ago, before it invaded Balai Ringin in 1998 and Sibu and Miri in 2005.
He said its population had exploded across Kuching and were a serious environmental threat to native birds.
“Mynahs are one of the most invasive birds in the world. They take over nesting hollows, evicting birds and small mammals and prey on nestling,” he said.
Anthony said mynahs originated from Java, India, Vietnam and Cambodia and was purportedly released in Kuching by pet lovers. He said the birds bred rapidly and competed with other birds for food and nesting space.
“Due to this competition, the birds will have an effect on the population of indigenous bird species,” he said. “Mynahs are omnivores, and eat nearly everything. They are a lot like scavengers and thus abundant in populated areas due to all the food resources and scraps created by humans.”
He said the number of these birds must be controlled to prevent them from becoming a major problem. He recommended that anyone who has observed these birds interacting with indigenous species, or seen their nest sites should try to remove them.
According to him, in Australia, Indian mynah birds were considered as pest because they caused damages in orchards of soft fruits and berries.
The mynah is estimated to cost farmers in the vicinity of Aus$300mil a year. Its fouling of lawns and clotheslines has propelled it into the top 10 most hated feral animals in Australia.
Anthony said the Australian local councils had spent millions of dollars to eradicate these birds.
The common mynah has a dark-brown plumage, with a black head, throat, and upper breast, and a yellow beak, feet, and skin around the eye. A conspicuous white patch is visible under the wings when the bird is in flight.
The natural nesting sites of the common mynah are cavities in trees, either natural, or excavated by other species of birds, such as woodpeckers.
However, in some of its introduced habitats where it lives in proximity to humans, the adaptable common mynah will also nest in holes in walls and buildings.
Because the common mynah is a loosely colonial nester, large populations may breed in places where there are suitable nesting and foraging habitats.
