Christmas Greetings to you all. The CIMAG Committee hopes that you have a very pleasant and safe Christmas.
Because RSPCA staff numbers will be reduced over the Christmas period, Marg Peachey of the RSPCA has requested trappers not to bring mynas and starlings to the Centre for disposal over the period from Friday 22 Dec — 2 Jan.
For new members, the usual times to take trapped mynas to the RSPCA Centre are:Monday |
10:00am |
– |
11:00am |
4:30pm |
– |
5:30pm | |
Wednesday |
4:30pm |
– |
5:30pm |
Friday |
4:30pm |
– |
5:30pm |
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.
A report from northern NSW has shown the unexpected side benefits of myna trapping. While a local was using a myna trap 3 blocks from the Coffs Harbour CBD, an unusual bird was caught on 5 th December.
The bird was identified as a Rose-coloured Starling. This is only the 3rd time a Rose-coloured Starling has been reported in Australia. The breeding range of this bird is from easternmost Europe across temperate southern Asia. It is a strong migrant, and winters in India and tropical Asia. It is not known as an aviary bird in Australia, so this one seems to have wandered off its usual path.
Peter Green sends an email around to all trappers on our list at the start of each month asking trappers to report on their captures for the previous month. These reports are now becoming very important as they are being used to assess the usefulness of our activities by people and groups other than ourselves. Occasionally not all people with traps have sent in their reports: we would ask that you do so, even if you have not caught any mynas or have not been trapping that month, just so that we have an accurate record of our collective efforts. This may be a reason for the Nov catch being so low (see item below).
Also we are aware that there are people who are trapping mynas who are not members of CIMAG and we do not record their captures. If you know of anyone who is involved in trapping, could you ask them to contact us ( via handke@grapevine.net.au or 02 6231 7461) so we can keep in touch. As we develop a robust scientific monitoring program it will be important that we know where trapping is taking place and the numbers being caught.If you would like to lend / sell your trap, we have lots of 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.
Trapping in October and November in the Canberra region has seen a further 1715 Indian Mynas removed, giving some relief to native birds. This brings to 7085 mynas that have been trapped in this area.
CIMAG members have reported that Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas have been nesting in nest boxes and neighbourhood tree hollows for the first time in many years following the reduction in myna numbers in their local area as a result of trapping. This is very heartening news — although at the same time other CIMAG members are reporting that Indian Mynas have been keeping parrots from tree hollows in their area and in the reserves.The capture data are as follows.
|
Suburb
|
October |
Mynas |
November |
Mynas |
Aggregate |
Mynas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aranda | 61 |
16 |
329 |
|||
| Ainslie | 0 |
4 |
4 |
|||
| Bonython | 19 |
0 |
25 |
|||
| Bruce | 8 |
0 |
8 |
|||
| Calwell | 12 |
0 |
29 |
|||
| Campbell | 5 |
1 |
45 |
|||
| Chapman | 12 |
4 |
53 |
|||
| Chifley | 3 |
0 |
22 |
|||
| Curtin | 9 |
8 |
35 |
|||
| Deakin | 0 |
2 |
26 |
|||
| Duffy | 9 |
0 |
276 |
|||
| Dunlop | 24 |
0 |
31 |
|||
| Evatt | 21 |
11 |
56 |
|||
| Fadden | 26 |
0 |
104 |
|||
| Farrer | 15 |
2 |
63 |
|||
| Fisher | 0 |
2 |
18 |
|||
| Florey | 0 |
0 |
6 |
|||
| Flynn | 0 |
11 |
30 |
|||
| Garran | 64 |
23 |
269 |
|||
| Giralang | 0 |
0 |
19 |
|||
| Gordon | 5 |
43 |
53 |
|||
| Hall | 63 |
9 |
637 |
|||
| Hawker | 0 |
15 |
84 |
|||
| Holder | 20 |
0 |
20 |
|||
| Hughes | 35 |
4 |
105 |
|||
| Isaacs | 12 |
6 |
33 |
|||
| Jerrabomberra | 0 |
26 |
26 |
|||
| Kaleen | 19 |
26 |
58 |
|||
| Kambah | 264 |
137 |
2806 |
|||
| Karabar | 3 |
0 |
3 |
|||
| Lyneham | 0 |
0 |
17 |
|||
| Lyons | 32 |
5 |
120 |
|||
| Macarthur | 0 |
0 |
8 |
|||
| Macquarie | 44 |
9 |
89 |
|||
| McGregor | 5 |
0 |
5 |
|||
| Melba | 8 |
0 |
25 |
|||
| Monash | 0 |
0 |
29 |
|||
| Narrabundah | 0 |
0 |
23 |
|||
| Nicholls | 28 |
42 |
70 |
|||
| Pearce | 40 |
82 |
261 |
|||
| Red Hill | 0 |
19 |
19 |
|||
| Richardson | 0 |
0 |
4 |
|||
| Scullin | 0 |
1 |
1 |
|||
| Spence | 0 |
5 |
5 |
|||
| Stirling | 0 |
0 |
12 |
|||
| Swinger Hill | 10 |
0 |
10 |
|||
| Theodore | 81 |
45 |
369 |
|||
| Torrens | 0 |
7 |
7 |
|||
| Wanniassa | 26 |
23 |
87 |
|||
| Waramanga | 15 |
11 |
173 |
|||
| Watson | 64 |
0 |
199 |
|||
| Weston | 26 |
8 |
140 |
|||
| Yarralumla | 12 |
0 |
79 |
|||
| Queanbeyan | 5 |
0 |
10 |
|||
| Total | 1105 |
609 |
7085 |
Most of you will know that CIMAG now has its own website: www.indianmynaaction.org.au . It has lots of information about the Group and our activities.
You can also get onto the CIMAG news email distribution system for news and notices from the CIMAG Committee (this is different to the CIMAG Chatline). Just send a blank email to news-subscribe@indianmynaaction.org.au and you will be automatically included on the distribution list. This will be the main way that the Committee will circulate information and notices to CIMAG members and “friends”.
You can also include yourself on the CIMAG Chatline by sending a blank email to chat-subscribe@indianmynaaction.org.au — if you want off, just send a blank email to chat-unsubscribe@indianmynaaction.org.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. Bill Handke
President
CIMAG
20 December 2006