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The 'Common Myna' (''Acridotheres tristis''), is a myna, a member of the starling family. This bird is a common resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from Afghanistan to India and Sri Lanka. It is also known as the 'Indian Myna' and as the 'Talking Myna' for its ability to mimic human speech.
It has extended its range into Southeast Asia, and has been introduced widely elsewhere, including South Africa, Israel, Hawaii, North America (especially in south Florida), Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.
This abundant passerine is typically found in open woodland, cultivation and around habitation. The Common Myna builds a nest in hole in a tree or wall. The normal clutch is 4–6 eggs.
Although this is an adaptable species, its population has been decreasing significantly in Singapore and Malaysia due to competition with its cousin, the introduced Javan Myna .
This 25-cm-long bird has dark brown body and wing plumage, with large white wing patches obvious in flight. The head and throat are dark grey. The bill, bare skin around the eyes and strong legs are bright yellow. The sexes are similar. Mynas mate for life.
Like most starlings, the Common Myna is omnivorous. It feeds on insects and fruits and discarded waste from human habitation. It forages on the ground among grass for insects, and especially for grasshoppers, from which it gets the generic name ''Acridotheres'', "grasshopper hunter". It walks on the ground with occasional hops.
The song includes croaks, squawks, chirps, clicks and whistles, and the bird often fluffs its feathers and bobs its head in singing. The Common Myna screeches warnings to its mate or other birds in cases of predators in proximity. Common Mynas are popular as cage birds for their singing and "speaking" abilities.

Contents

In Australia

References

External links

Further reading

Book

Thesis

Articles

In Australia

In Australia, the Common Myna is considered to be an invasive pest. It has been voted one of the 100 most unpopular species.[1]. Common Mynas will swoop near, or indeed at, people as Australian Magpies do. They also attack magpies, crows and other birds.

References

★ Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

★ Starlings and Mynas, , Chris, Feare, Princeton University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-7136-3961-X

★ Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ''Birds of India'' ISBN 0-691-04910-6

External links

★ Common Myna videos on the Internet Bird Collection

Further reading

Book

★ Kannan, R., and D. A. James. 2001. ''Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)''. In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 583 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.

Thesis

★ Tunhikorn S. Ph.D. (1989). ''Resource partitioning of four sympatric mynas and starlings (Sturnidae) in Thailand''. Oregon State University, United States -- Oregon.

Articles

★ Baker AJ & Moeed A. (1979). ''Evolution in the Introduced New-Zealand Populations of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis Aves Sturnidae''. Canadian Journal of Zoology. vol '57', no 3. p. 570-584.

★ Baker AJ & Moeed A. (1980). ''MORPHOMETRIC VARIATION IN INDIAN SAMPLES OF THE COMMON MYNA, ACRIDOTHERES-TRISTIS (AVES, STURNIDAE)''. Bijdragen Tot De Dierkunde. vol '50', no 2. p. 351-363.

★ Baker AJ & Moeed A. (1987). ''RAPID GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION AND FOUNDER EFFECT IN COLONIZING POPULATIONS OF COMMON MYNAS (ACRIDOTHERES-TRISTIS)''. Evolution. vol '41', no 3. p. 525-538.

★ Bharucha EK. (1989). ''Common Myna as a Campfollower of Lesser Whistling Teals''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '86', no 3.

★ Bilgin CC. (1996). ''First record of the common myna (Acridotheres tristis) from Ankara, Turkey''. Zoology in the Middle East. vol '13', no 0. p. 25-26.

★ Bilqees FM, Khatoon N & Haseeb MF. (2004). ''Neoechinorhynchotaenia sindhensis N. gen., N. sp. from the bird Acridotheres tristis of Sindh, Pakistan''. Pakistan Journal of Zoology. vol '36', no 3. p. 207-209.

★ Chandra S, Agarwal GP & Saxena AK. (1988). ''Seasonal Changes in the Population of Mallophaga on Acridotheres-Tristis''. Angewandte Parasitologie. vol '29', no 4. p. 244-249.

★ Chandra S, Agarwal GP & Saxena AK. (1989). ''Distribution of Mallophaga on the Body of Acridotheres-Tristis Aves''. Angewandte Parasitologie. vol '30', no 1. p. 39-42.

★ Chandra S, Agarwal GP, Singh SPN & Saxena AK. (1990). ''Seasonal Changes in a Population of Menacanthus-Eurysternus Mallophaga Amblycera on the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis''. International Journal for Parasitology. vol '20', no 8. p. 1063-1066.

★ Chaturvedi CM & Thapliyal JP. (1979). ''Comparative Study of Adrenal Cycles in 3 Species of Indian Birds Athene-Brama Acridotheres-Tristis and Coturnix-Coturnix''. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. vol '17', no 10. p. 1049-1052.

★ Chauhan RB, Parasharya BM & Yadav DN. (1998). ''The food of nestlings of Indian Myna acridotheres tristis''. In ''Dhindsa, M S [Editor], Rao, P S [Editor], Parasharya, B M [Editor] Birds in agricultural ecosystem 138-148, 1998''. Society for Applied Ornithology (India) {a}, A. P. Agricultural University, Rajendranagar 500 030, India.

★ Choudhury A. (1998). ''Common myna feeding a fledgling koel''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '95', no 1.

★ Crisp H & Lill A. (2006). ''City slickers: Habitat use and foraging in urban Common Mynas Acridotheres tristis''. Corella. vol '30', no 1. p. 9-15.

★ Davidar ERC. (1991). ''14. Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis Linn. Fishing''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '88', no 2.

★ Dhanda SK & Dhindsa MS. (1993). ''Eviction of ring dove, Streptopelia decaocto, from a nest box by common myna, Acridotheres tristis''. Pavo. vol '31', no 1-2. p. 35-38.

★ Dhanda SK & Dhindsa MS. (1996). ''Breeding performance of Indian Myna Acridotheres tristis in nestboxes and natural sites''. Ibis. vol '138', no 4. p. 788-791.

★ Dhanda SK & Dhindsa MS. (1996). ''Intraspecific brood parasitism in the common myna Acridotheres tristis (Linn.)''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '93', no 1. p. 91-93.

★ Dhanda SK & Dhindsa MS. (1998). ''Breeding ecology of common myna Acridotheres tristis with special reference to the effect of season and habitat on reproductive variables''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '95', no 1. p. 43-56.

★ Fitzsimons JA. (2006). ''Anti-predator aggression in the Common Myna Acridotheres tristis''. Australian Field Ornithology vol '23', p. 202-205.

★ Fleischer RC, Williams RN & Baker AJ. (1991). ''Genetic Variation within and among Populations of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis in Hawaii USA''. Journal of Heredity. vol '82', no 3. p. 205-208.

★ Gibson AR, Baker AJ & Moeed A. (1984). ''Morphometric Variation in Introduced Populations of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis an Application of the Jackknife to Principal Component Analysis''. Systematic Zoology. vol '33', no 4. p. 408-421.

★ Greig-Smith P. (1982). ''Behavior of Birds Entering and Leaving Communal Roosts of Madagascar Fodies Foudia-Madagascariensis and Indian Mynahs Acridotheres-Tristis''. Ibis. vol '124', no 4. p. 529-534.

★ Gupta RC & Goel P. (1994). ''On the roosting behaviour of Bank myna, common myna and pied myna''. Geobios. vol '21', no 2. p. 93-100.

★ Hermes N. (1986). ''A Census of the Common Mynah Acridotheres-Tristis Along an Axis of Dispersal''. Corella. vol '10', no 2. p. 55-57.

★ Homan P. (2000). ''Excluding the Common Myna Acridotheres tristis from artificial nest boxes using a baffle''. Victorian Naturalist. vol '117', no 2.

★ Hone J. (1978). ''Introduction and Spread of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis in New-South-Wales Australia''. Emu. vol '78', no 4. p. 227-230.

★ Ishtiaq F, Beadell JS, Baker AJ, Rahmani AR, Jhala YV & Fleischer RC. (2006). ''Prevalence and evolutionary relationships of haematozoan parasites in native versus introduced populations of common myna Acridotheres tristis''. Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences Series B. vol '273', no 1586. p. 587-594.

★ Jadhav BV & Dandawate RR. (2004). ''A new species of the genus Lapwingia (Singh 1952) from Acridotheres tristis at Aurangabad, India''. Uttar Pradesh Journal of Zoology. vol '24', no 2. p. 209-211.

★ Kumar A, Kumar B, Arora MP, Kumar S & Tyagi R. (2004). ''Effect of environmental factors on annual reproductive cycle of female common myna Acridotheres tristis''. Journal of Experimental Zoology India. vol '7', no 2. p. 313-318.

★ Mahabal A. (1993). ''Activity-time budget of Indian myna Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus) during the breeding season''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '90', no 1. p. 96-97.

★ Mahabal A. (1993). ''Communal display behaviour of Indian myna, Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus)''. Pavo. vol '31', no 1-2. p. 45-54.

★ Mahabal A. (1997). ''Communal roosting in common mynas Acridotheres tristis and its functional significance''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '94', no 2. p. 342-349.

★ Mahabal A, Bastawade DB & Vaidya VG. (1990). ''Spatial and Temporal Fluctuations in the Populations of Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis Linnaeus in and around an Indian City''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '87', no 3. p. 392-398.

★ Mahabal A & Bastawde DB. (1991). ''Mixed roosting associates of Indian Myna Acridotheres tristis in Pune City, India''. Pavo. vol '29', no 1-2. p. 23-32.

★ Mahabal A & Vaidya VG. (1989). ''Diurnal Rhythms and Seasonal Changes in the Roosting Behavior of Indian Myna Acridotheres-Tristis Linnaeus''. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences Animal Sciences. vol '98', no 3. p. 199-210.

★ Malhi CS. (1987). ''Hoarding Behavior in Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis''. Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Zoologie. vol '74', no 2. p. 247-248.

★ Mallick B & Sarkar AK. (1982). ''Observation on Cadmium Damage in Ovary of Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis''. Proceedings of the Zoological Society. vol '35', no 1-2. p. 23-26.

★ Martin WK. (1996). ''The current and potential distribution of the common myna Acridotheres tristis in Australia''. Emu. vol '96', p. 166-173.

★ Pawar SB & Shinde GB. (2003). ''A new species Valipora kallamensis n.sp. (Cestoda: Dilepididae) from Acridotheres tristis at Kallam, India''. Uttar Pradesh Journal of Zoology. vol '23', no 2. p. 167-169.

★ Pell AS & Tidemann CR. (1997). ''The ecology of the Common Myna in urban nature reserves in the Australian Capital Territory''. Emu. vol '97', p. 141-149.

★ Rahman MK & Husain KZ. (1988). ''Notes on the Breeding Record of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis-Tristis Linnaeus''. Bangladesh Journal of Zoology. vol '16', no 2. p. 155-158.

★ Salunkhe PS. (1999). ''Albino myna (Acridotheres tristis) near Vita, in Maharashtra''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '96', no 3.

★ Sengupta S. (1976). ''Food and Feeding Ecology of the Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis''. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy Part B Biological Sciences. vol '42', no 6. p. 338-345.

★ Sood ML & Dang HR. (1978). ''Diplotriaena-Bhamoensis a Nematode Infection in Acridotheres-Tristis and Acridotheres-Ginginianus''. Rivista di Parassitologia. vol '39', no 2-3. p. 113-116.

★ Srivastava R, Kumar S, Gupta N, Singh SK & Saxena AK. (2003). ''Path coefficient analysis of correlation between breeding cycles of the common myna Acridotheres tristis (Passeriformes: Sturnidae) and its phthirapteran ectoparasites''. Folia Parasitologica. vol '50', no 4. p. 315-316.

★ Telecky TM. (1988). ''Multiple Parentage in the Permanently Monogamous Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis''. Pacific Science. vol '42', no 1-2. p. 133-134.

★ Toor HS & Dhindsa MS. (1980). ''A New Nesting Site of Common Myna Acridotheres-Tristis in the Punjab India''. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. vol '77', no 2. p. 329-330.

★ Uniyal DP. (2004). ''A note on behavioural observation of Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta) and Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)''. Indian Forester. vol '130', no 4. p. 469-470.