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Indian Myna Trapping


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Always thought of myself as a avid hunter/ trapper but these bastards are in suburbia which means I can't simply get out the shotgun and rid the planet of this menace so trapping it is for the time being anyway.

 

Just a bit of a rundown on these pests. We used to have lots of grass parrots, kookaburras and some lovely Aussie birds on the property here in suburbia but that all started to cease a couple of months ago as Indian Mynas took over the natives nests killing there young and started hunting down all the natives that simply flew near the house.

 

Horrible birds taking over from the nice natives needs a bit of man's intervention I thought so I made a trap.

 

Three days it sat out there with no luck because like all birds, they need to see something sitting there harmlessly for a couple of days before they become curios.

 

Well today they did get curios.

 

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Cool I thought. I'll get the dog inside and see if the trapped bird attracts some of it's buddies.

 

Didn't take long and there was another one trying it's luck....;)

 

Ten minutes later and it was in the trap beside it's buddy...

 

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Funny, the little container with dog food inside the trap to attract the birds didn't seem all that important now once they worked out the was no way out of the trap:lol

 

Anyway, yes the trap works but whether it continues to work is the question now that every other Indian Myna in the suburb knows what happens if your stupid enough to get to close.

 

I know from my trapping days animals do learn so you have to keep trying different approaches.

 

What I have learnt is dog food pellets work a treat attracting these birds. I'm thinking a couple of pellets spread around, (where the dog can't get to and eat), and one or two of the pellets stuck on the release plate on a mouse or rat trap might be my next approach.

 

Who knows, being a little less obvious as the big metal wire trap may attract more customers?

 

Other thoughts are strips of "fly paper" with a couple of dog pellets on them. Anything that catches flys so effectively should have no trouble wrapping up a bird.

 

There is also the old favourite, snares using fishing line with little slip knots. The bird's feet get hooked in the slip knots. This works a treat with ducks, ( only when you are hunting for food in the wild as a last resort), where you tie the end of the fishing line that doesn't have the slip knots to a rock just balancing on a stick above water. The bird gets caught and pulls the rock off balance sinking the rock pulling the bird below the water. Pretty brutal but super effective and these birds are killers after all. Not a trap I would use personally on ducks these days as I love the native ducks we get down the farm along with all the other native birds.

 

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions on other ways to rid the planet of these pests. I'm going to use care not to catch anything other than these pests so the types of traps I use I will do with discretion.

 

Believe me, no one will be more upset if I catch the wrong type of bird but the natives are more in the trees so I think I'm fairly safe using traps right at the back door as only the Mynas are that bold.

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Those mynas sure are a nuisance. Before I moved out of Sydney to the NSW north coast I bought a commercial indian myna trap but never got to assemble it. It's still in the box it came in.

I was prompted to buy a trap after reading the story behind the trap's development. Some uni guys in Canberra did extensive research on how to catch these birds. Their results and story used to be online which was an interesting read.

Good luck.

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maybe once trapped they can go into the chest freezer?

I do this with toads.

having allot to do with farm life I have certainly killed my fair share of vermin and breaking necks on rabbits and other things to put out of their misery if there wasnt a gun near by, Not something I ever enjoyed but had tobe done.

But I did notice Im more sooky than I used tobe and so breaking necks has slowly become something I can no longer muster up the stomach todo any more. done right its quick and painless but Its not a nice feeling actually doing it.

So if you cant bring your self to break its neck which would be the quickest way, If not wack them into the chest freezer and it will fall asleep forever.

 

good thing with the traps you have, if you happen to trap the wrong bird you can release it without harm. Not sure a mouse traps, foot trap or fly paper is the go as it could get the wrong bird.

Just keep using those traps for as long as you can, give it a break for a week or so, keep attracting them with food while not in use to gain trust and then use it again, So they dont get to used to it.

Edited by jason1
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Good on you Steve. I've been trying to create a native habitat in my yard for the last 4 years and it has been hard work but the birds are finally using the garden all the time now. Exotics don't like native trees/shrubs I've learnt from observation.

 

Sounds terrible but there are two options that involve no blood letting or touching the birds: one is dropping the birds into a 44 gallon drum full of water (whilst they're still in the cage of course) and the other involves putting the cage into a slightly bigger sealed container which you then hook up to your car exhaust.

 

Top knot pigeons are the only natives I've seen go into bigger aviaries to scavenge seed. They probably wouldn't go in these smaller cages (too clever the natives)

 

Make use of mirrors to entice the first bird in and then others will join the "party" when they see the first one eat.

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Sounds terrible but there are two options that involve no blood letting or touching the birds: one is dropping the birds into a 44 gallon drum full of water (whilst they're still in the cage of course) and the other involves putting the cage into a slightly bigger sealed container which you then hook up to your car exhaust.

 

The pool was very tempting believe me but it is salt water and couldn't bring myself to promote the cage I built to rust. It is still to pretty ATM.:(

 

Top knot pigeons are the only natives I've seen go into bigger aviaries to scavenge seed. They probably wouldn't go in these smaller cages (too clever the natives)

 

Make use of mirrors to entice the first bird in and then others will join the "party" when they see the first one eat.

 

Yes we do have some Top Knots or lump head pigeons as my son calls them and as for the plants to entice the natives, I used Gravillias and Bottle Brush as most natives are nectar eaters and these plants were working very well until the Mynas arrived.

 

The Indian Mynas are even moving on the bigger natives like magpies, kookaburras and the cockatoos because they always work in pairs where as the natives are more soloists unless it is mating season.

 

They get into the native birds nests and peak holes in the eggs and push them out. I find eggs on the ground and even the chicks if they get that advanced. Breaks your heart seeing baby grass parrots on the ground pecked apart.

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The loss of the Kookaburras has been heartbreaking.

 

I hope that long term the Magpies and other large dominant natives will learn to evict the Mynas.

 

By introducing them in the first place and by clearing too much land (and then having small lush gardens with fruits etc for them to hide in and feed on) we've created great conditions for feral birds to thrive. It's also been favourable to some natives though.

 

Living in Wagga Wagga a few years ago next to a native corridor with scattered woodland and occasional forest there was a good variety of birds of prey like Goshawks and Falcons (not sure which kind) that kept control of things. I walked out into the backyard one day after hearing a 'thud' and a Goshawk was standing on the chest of a feral pigeon and eating it. I just quietly ducked away and kept doing what I was doing. I haven't seen that in suburbia since though.

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I don't know why the councils and state governments aren't spending any money on eradicating these pests. They are putting a lot of "effort?" (everytime I see them they are sitting at park benches eating lunch) into getting rid of the fire ants up here.
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I don't know why the councils and state governments aren't spending any money on eradicating these pests. They are putting a lot of "effort?" (everytime I see them they are sitting at park benches eating lunch) into getting rid of the fire ants up here.

 

Funny you mention councils and pests..;)

 

When I was a kid our local council had a 5c bounty on sparrows and it may have been mynas if not feral pigeons as well.

 

It was the thing the "big kids" did shooting them with there slug guns when every second kid owned a slug gun.

 

When I was old enough, the bounty was finished but we used sling shots to kill them in big numbers anyway.

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Funny you mention councils and pests..;)

 

When I was a kid our local council had a 5c bounty on sparrows and it may have been mynas if not feral pigeons as well.

 

It was the thing the "big kids" did shooting them with there slug guns when every second kid owned a slug gun.

 

When I was old enough, the bounty was finished but we used sling shots to kill them in big numbers anyway.

 

And now it's all illegal/frowned upon/not allowed but it's cool to just let pests flourish and Australian animals become extinct every year.

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they used to pay us 5cents a cain toad at one point.

 

I see they are offering $10 a wild pig snout, But already the greenies are upset about that so it might not last very long.

Alright for those buggers who live in the inner city who dont have to deal with them. They seem to have the ability to make the decisions on behalf of those who have to put up with those dangerous bastards

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they used to pay us 5cents a cain toad at one point.

 

I see they are offering $10 a wild pig snout, But already the greenies are upset about that so it might not last very long.

Alright for those buggers who live in the inner city who dont have to deal with them. They seem to have the ability to make the decisions on behalf of those who have to put up with those dangerous bastards

 

The problem with everything is that we aren't forced to walk in the shoes of others.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As a responsible member of society I have employed a number of methods to eradicate these pesky critters at every opportunity if and when it presents itself

 

Method 1 20181211_071519.thumb.jpg.5a07cdbe43f95e08b7134b5ce1df6a74.jpg

 

Method 2 20181211_071912.thumb.jpg.dab8429987d4d58ab3598ac62afb4808.jpg

 

Method 3 300865192_20181211_071942(1).thumb.jpg.b7d5e5a0f183367e7547a9ddfaa812b1.jpg

 

Method 4 20181211_072048.thumb.jpg.cb21e2b67805ac705c8ed0f2f86e8622.jpg

 

All methods have worked very well apart from Method 4

Model supplied by "Die Devil Bird" Talent agency

Model may have been heavily intoxicated at time of photo shoot

Hound of Baskervilles at 4th image is useless at Myna erradication but has been effective in the past at Heritage Breed Barnevelder chicken and Homing Pigeon reduction. She has since been recalibrated

No animals of feral, mongrel, evil, and downright nasty disposition were harmed during this informative insight................ I swear............ cuz.......

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