Second myna triggers hunt
A hunt will soon get under way in Christchurch’s red zone for a pair of invasive myna birds.
Mynas are considered a pest, and although common in the upper North Island, they are not normally found in Canterbury.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) said mynas are territorial and aggressive towards other birds, and have been known to remove native species from their nests for their own use. It said the birds can cause considerable economic loss when they gather in large numbers to feed on stock food, crops or fruit.
The council has now commissioned a contractor experienced in bird control to visit the area where the common myna birds have been reported.
Council principal biosecurity advisor Laurence Smith said the contractor would first visit the area to assess the situation, and then was likely to make a plan to return and shoot one or both birds.
He said the contractor was a specialist in removing pests from an urban area, and would get police permission to use an air rifle in the area.
A lone myna has been spotted regularly in tNew Brighton since about 2018, but in the past month there were reports, and then photographic evidence, of two birds.
John Stewart, a keen amateur photographer, has kept an eye on the first bird over the years. He said they have often seen it at red zone land by Pages Rd. Recently, he heard talk of a second bird in the same spot, and managed to catch a photo of the pair.
Birds NZ Canterbury regional representative Anita Spencer said if the birds remained and bred, they were likely to have a negative impact on native birds.
However, she said mynas were nowhere near the top of the list of threats. “Our native birds do have a lot of threats – cats, stoats, rats – and we don't need to add another one. And myna are very visible, like magpies. People don’t often see rats or stoats attacking nests, so it is easier to see the threat they are.”
University of Auckland biological sciences lecturer Anna Santure said mynas in New Zealand originated in India.