Mynas are distinctive, because unlike most birds, they move
with a jaunty walk rather than hop. European Starlings also
walk rather than hop. Common Indian Mynas can be confused
with Noisy Miners, Manorina melanocephala, a native
Australian species that is also aggressive and often moves
around in groups, as do Common Indian Mynas and they look
superficially similar to them.
All Common Indian Mynas, except females incubating eggs or
young, sleep at night in communal roosts. Every night all
the mynas within a kilometre or so of where they feed or nest
gather at a communal roost. Up to several hundred birds may
gather at these communal roosts, which are usually in a tree
or other vegetation with dense foliage. Roosts are not always
in trees but may be in creepers, buildings or under bridges.
There are usually several roosts in each suburb.
Communal roosts of Common Indian Mynas are usually quite
easy to find by looking for flying mynas about half an hour
before it gets dark. If you follow the line of flight you’ll
soon get close enough to hear them. If there are a lot of
birds in the roost you can hear them from several hundred
metres away. It is rare for other birds, except sometimes
a few European Starlings, to roost in myna roosts.
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Myna call 3 (roost) |
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