Pest buster

The Common Indian Myna menace could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a researcher’s ingenuity.

In their native India, Myna birds are popular pets because of their ability to mimic human speech, and for their habit of mating for life, which has also won them the moniker of ‘the birds of love’. Indian farmers are fond of them as they keep the number of crop-devouring insects down. Also, the Hindi word from which the species derives its name, maina, is sometimes used as a term of endearment for young girls.

But in Australia, the Common Indian Myna has done little to endear itself to anyone. Confirmation of this came after the second national ABC Wildwatch survey last year, where the birds beat foxes, cane toads, and feral cats for the dubious honour of winning the ‘Pest of Australia’ title.

It may seem like a quirk of fate then that the man regarded as the brightest hope for dealing with the Indian Myna boom in Australia is one of the few in the country who is genuinely fond of them.

“I quite like them. They’re incredibly interesting, they’re adaptable, and they’re highly social. But at the same time I’d like it if there were a lot fewer of them,” Dr Chris Tidemann says.

The ANU ecologist from the School of Resources, Environment and Society is setting out to achieve just that — bringing the number of Indian Mynas in the country down to a manageable level. Dr Tidemann’s task has received backing from high places, too. He was recently awarded a $130,000 grant by the Federal Government, which will complement $75,000 in funding from the philanthropic Hermon Slade Foundation. Together, these will fund the trial of an innovative trap that could potentially bag thousands of the birds in one fell swoop.

But why are people prepared to spend big bucks to deal with these relatively small birds? Dr Tidemann says it’s a combination of factors involving a decline in biodiversity, potential health risks and decreased amenity.

“Common Indian Mynas nest in hollows, which are usually home to parrots and small mammals like possums. They’re aggressive too, so they tend to kick the original occupants out through swooping and pack behaviour. They end up harassing native animals out of their hollows. Over time, this trend suppresses the breeding of other species. It won’t happen overnight, but while Myna numbers continue to build up, wildlife tends to go down. You end up with lots of Mynas and not much else.

“If you’re a small animal they can inflict quite serious damage with their beaks and claws. They also tend to operate in groups. It’s not quite like the scenes of birds mobbing in The Birds, but it’s close. They’re pretty aggro little birds. Even a few of them can be seriously daunting for a small animal.”

"I quite like them. They’re incredibly interesting, they’re adaptable, and they’re highly social. But at the same time I’d like it if there were a lot fewer of them.”

Humans and other larger animals also have reason for caution, if not hysteria à la Tipi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie. Dr Tidemann says while the exact number of Indian Mynas in Australia isn’t known, the figure would number in the millions, and it is growing. To take one location as an example, they were the most commonly recorded feral bird in Canberra in 2000 (which is also the year in which the World Conservation Union named the Common Indian Myna as one of the world’s top 100 invasive species), with estimates that today they number 300 to the square kilometre in the ACT and around 1,000 in Cairns.

There is also evidence that the area in which Indian Mynas can be found is increasing, as the birds extend their range from their traditional urban habitat into more rural settings. With global warming, the problem is likely to intensify.

“There will always be problems when wild animals are congregating in large numbers near human populations, or indeed near domestic or agricultural animals. These birds poop all over the place, and eat pet food and feed for livestock. This behaviour poses all sorts of human health and livestock issues.

“With the emergence of diseases like SARS and bird flu there is a growing recognition that having a lot of any wild animals in close proximity to people is not a good idea. Similarly, they shouldn’t be kept too close to domestic or agricultural animals.”

So how to keep numbers down? An aviary-style trap developed by Dr Tidemann uses special valves to keep out other bird species that might be attracted to the dog food bait. Once inside, the Indian Mynas are funnelled into a top tier, which is then removed and covered so they can be gassed humanely.

The design is limited to capturing about 50 birds at a time. Dr Tidemann says the new funding will help him research a new roost-style trap, which he describes as a ‘quantum leap’ on the earlier model.

“The ultimate objective is to make a synthetic tree that it is very attractive for Mynas to roost in, but is also made super attractive through call playback of Myna’s roost choruses. When they go into trees at night to roost they sing for half an hour before they go to sleep.”

Dr Tidemann says his goal is to have a prototype working by the end of next year, and eventually to let the intellectual property pass over into the public domain so community groups can build their own roost traps. To get to that point, he will be carrying out parallel investigations into roosting behaviour and ideal roost trees in Canberra and Cairns, using a combination of fieldwork and monitored aviaries.

He says the technology could ultimately be adapted to deal with other pest bird species, too, like European Starlings or pigeons. But for the moment, the focus will be on public enemy number one.

“I’m sticking with Mynas because they’re obvious, many people would like to see less of them – and they’re slow to spread. This certainly helps when you’re talking about population control.”

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