Common myna (Acridotheres tristis)

The myna is a medium-sized but heavily built bird with mainly brown plumage. It has a dark brown to black head with a bright yellow patch behind the eye, and a yellow bill, legs and feet. The wing patch, under-tail covets and tail tip are white. Mynas have a distinct strut or exaggerated hop when moving across the ground and can be in small to very large groups.

The myna is an introduced, unprotected species. The problems they cause are numerous:

• Mynas can cause considerable damage to ripening fruit, particularly grapes, but also figs, apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, guava, mangoes and breadfruit.
• Cereal crops such as maize, wheat and rice are susceptible where they occur near urban areas.
• They are known to carry avian malaria and exotic parasites such as the Ornithonyssus bursia mite, which can cause dermatitis in humans.
• The myna can help spread agricultural weeds; for example, it spreads the seeds of Lantana camara, which has been classed as a Weed of National Significance because of its invasiveness.
• Mynas are regularly observed usurping nests and hollows, killing the young and destroying the eggs of native bird species including seabirds and parrots.
• They also kill small mammals although the extent to which these actions reduce native populations remains unquantified. 

Factsheets