Man playing Demi-God: Myna & Noisy Miner

Its not new - but then the man always had a habit of playing Demi-God. Whether he has ever succeeded or not is a debate that I will not be drawn into. The problem with man is that he sees wiseness of his action over such a small time period - that there is no vision of future. Second problem with his actions are that he wants the results of his actions in his life time so that he can enjoy the shower of accolades most of the time. This - my friends is the two bladed sword that mans actions hold and unfortunately both the edges are very-very sharp to say the least.

Noisy Miner

I will support my case with the example of Common Myna (also spelled Mynha). This bird is a resident of Asia, Subcontinent of India in particular. These birds have been introduced by man over a period of time to a large number of countries and where ever they have been introduced - they have created a havoc.

The Dark clouds on the horizon

See - if any foreign species have to establish in a native land - it has to do so at the expense of the Native. After all there is always so much space and resources to compete for. When I visited Australia on my birding tour last year my observation of Mynas were - firstly they were everywhere, secondly they were more aggressive than what I observed them in my own country (India). It struck to me then that they would have surely displaced some of the local species and pushing them so as to establish themselves successfully. That made me read a lot about it in my last few months. Whatever I read just confirmed my worst fears - and to me - just observing during 10 day tour of Australia was not good and was sure that when I read up the research by more serious souls - the findings would be more grave than anything I observed.

A show down with Indian Myna - what had to happen

Two strong species fighting for supremacy...

Like all wars - I wonder if there will be a real winner at all...

The bird was introduced in Australia Melbourne and South-east during 1862 and 1872. Infact in 1800 there was a locust plague and the Indian Mynas were got there to control them. Ofcourse as the history now tells us - the Mynas never helped controlling the Plague - and unfortunately became one of the worst pest of Australia.

All this while this next generation watches in the sidelines....

I witnessed Mynas fighting with native species many a times in my 10 day visit - I wonder how much damage it would have done over the past centuries - perhaps pushing some native species to extinction. (It is not a hype I can assure you). The problem is so severe that there are web pages and companies both private and funded now fighting to control these ‘Pests’. So next time you do plan to do something wise - just give it a thought - after all nature did not do what you think is wise for a reason maybe...

This may give the idea of the scale of problem that Aussis are facing over this bird... This is one of the so many websites giving solutions....