Myna Matters Bulletin #6
(download Bulletin #6 as a PDF, 52Kb)

Dear CIMAG Members and Friends

The following outlines the state of play in our efforts to protect our native wildlife from Indian Mynas.

CIMAG Inc Website and Chatline Up and Running

CIMAG now has its own website: www.indianmynaaction.org.au . At this stage it is in its early development phase. Our thanks to David Cook for the layout and for getting the material up on the site.

David has also developed an electronic chatline where CIMAG members can “talk” with each other. Just send an email to cimag@indianmynaaction.org.au and it will be received by all subscribers. This will be our primary means for contacting you and circulating information about CIMAG matters. This will also be particularly valuable in getting feedback from members as to particular hot spots for mynas — including their roosting sites — and for CIMAG trappers to learn from each other’s experiences (what bait to use, what might be the better locations for traps in backyard etc). Such information will be valuable in targeting activities and in learning from each other. Anyone can “unsubscribe” and “subscribe” as they wish.

We have also created email addresses for the President, Treasurer and Secretary: they are: president@indianmynaaction.org.au ; treasurer@indianmynaaction.org.au ; and secretary@indianmynaaction.org.au . You can still get me at my other email address
(handke@grapevine.net.au) .

If you have suggestions for other material to be included on the website, and particularly what links we should add to the site, please let us know.

Donation towards the RSPCA’s Euthanising Service

Because of the good service that the RSPCA is providing to CIMAG in euthanising trapped mynas, the CIMAG Committee has provided a donation of $200 to the RSPCA to help defray the costs of this service.

It is good to see that our members are taking advantage of this euthanising service by the RSPCA at the Weston Centre on Kirkpatrick Street.

For new members, the times to take trapped mynas to the RSPCA Centre are:

Please take the trapped mynas / starlings to Building A, the Wildlife Building at the RSPCA Centre — it is the very first building in the RSPCA complex as you come down Kirkpatrick Street in Weston. If bringing mynas and starlings to the Centre for disposal, could you please use an opaque bag or box in view of possible sensitivity of some members of the public to trapped birds.

CIMAG Monitoring Mynas Program

In Myna Matters Bulletin #5 I mentioned that we wished to establish a monitoring program for Indian Mynas, using the Garden Bird Survey Chart of the local birding group — the Canberra Ornithologists Group. I now have a number of charts for use by CIMAG members to record mynas and native birds within 100 metres of their house. The CIMAG Committee would like to encourage members to join in this monitoring program.

Please contact me (at handke@grapevine.net.au or by phone 6231 7461) if you want to hear more about what is involved in the Garden Bird Survey activity and to get hold of a GBS sheet.

Indian Myna Control Elsewhere

There is interest all along the east coast in controlling Indian Mynas. In the past month or so we have been contacted by environmental groups and local councils / shires in southern Queensland, Ballina, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Tarree, Gosford, western Sydney and various places in Victoria. We have provided information on our activities and approach to these groups as a way of sharing information and knowledge.

It is good to see that the northern NSW groups are tackling the issue before it becomes the huge problem that it is elsewhere. We will maintain contact with these groups to learn from their experiences and to help in any way we can.

Get Those Traps Out Working

After a quiet couple of months when a number of CIMAG trappers put away their traps, it is now time to get those myna traps out working. This time of year when Indian Mynas are breeding is a particularly important time to capture mynas — before they can raise another batch of young. For those who have largely “cleaned out” their local area or are unable to use their trap for a while (holidays, work commitments etc), we would like to encourage you to lend your trap to other CIMAG or prospective CIMAG members. If you do so in a private capacity, please ensure that the new trapper signs the Protocol on Animal Welfare and joins CIMAG. This will enable us to keep track of how they are going, to send info to them and to monitor their captures.

If you are in this situation and would like to lend / sell your trap, we have some 35 people waiting for a trap at the moment. Just get in touch with me about lending it on — better someone else use it than let the mynas off the hook.

September trapping data

The trapping data for September has been collated. (Currently Peter green is collating the Oct data). A further 897 mynas were removed from our environment by 51 CIMAG members in September, bringing the progressive total to 5343. You can see from the table below that the list of suburbs being covered now includes Bonython, Dunlop, Evatt, Macquarie, Richardson and the town of Queanbeyan.

The capture data are as follows.

Next efforts

Officers of the ACT Government are continuing to show interest in our efforts. In the next little while we hope to have further meetings with them and to make contact with local shopping centres about CIMAG’s activities. Also on our plans is contact with local councils in the immediate area.

Bill Handke
President
CIMAG

12 November 2006