Tuesday, April 13, 2010

ABC Wednesday: M is for Myna

Pied Mynah (白頰椋鳥), Gracupica contra
The Mynas (also spelt Mynahs) are Asian species of Starlings (椋鳥) in the family Sturnidae. Mynas occure naturally only in southern and eastern Asia. For me, they look very different from the American or European Starlings.

Common Myna or Indian Myan (家八哥), Acridotheres tristis
The term Myna is used for any Starling in India and surrounding areas. The Common Mynas adapt well in different environments even thrive in urban and suburban area. It is among the World's 100 worst invasive species (IUCN), one of the only three birds in the list.

Jungle Myna (林八哥), Acridotheres fuscus
Mynas are kept as pets in many Asian countries. Escaped birds have formed feral population locally. Both Jungle Myna and Common Myna can be found in the wild (if you call parks in Taipei as wild) in Taiwan.

Black-winged Starling (黑袖椋鳥), Acridotheres melanopterus
Black-winged Starling is endemic to Indonesia. Once, it was an abundant bird, but now, it is treated as endangered by the IUCN.

Bali Myna (八里白椋鳥), Leucopsar rothschildi
Bali Myna as its name implies that it is endemic to the island of Bali. It is now critically endangered. The wild population was at an all-time low of just 6 birds in 2001. A conservation program was initiated in 1999 from two pairs of birds brought from London back to Bali. In 2006, birds from the breeding program have been started to be released into the wild.

Yellow-faced Myna (黃臉樹八哥), Mino dumontii
The Yellow-face Myna is native for New Guinea. I photographed the Yellow-faced and Bali Myna at the aviary of Hong Kong Park. The other four birds were photographed at aviary of Taipei Zoo. All pictures were taken with Nikon D700 and 80-400mm VR lens.

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20 comments:

Shu said...

Wow! How I loved the face of Bali Myna. You are great at taking photos of birds.

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

How cool and interesting! Beautiful birds, do the feral populations interfer with local birds as far as competion for food etc?

Beautiful photos!

Sylvia K said...

What beautiful birds! And what an interesting post to go with your gorgeous photos! Perfect for the day! Hope you both are enjoying a great week!

Sylvia

Carolyn Ford said...

What beautiful birds! Your captures are SO excellent. I really like the background bokeh too...beautiful job!

photowannabe said...

Beautiful shots. Ididn't know the Myna were in the Starling family.
The Bali Myna is so unusual. I love the blue around the eye.

dianasfaria.com said...

excellent bird photos of some extraordinary looking birds. they actually look as if they are posing for you!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/hill-mynahs-rare-birds.html

What a lot of mynahs. Have you seen the hill mynahs? When my husband was a professor in NTU in Singapore, we often have surprises. We had hill mynahs come to the window. They were almost endangered and were selling for four hundred dollars a pair.

x_pEpPeRoNi_x said...

They are all very beautiful! I esp love their colours!

I only see the black one with the yellow beak and feet in Singapore.. but I didn't know there were so many other kinds of the same specie. :)

Roger Owen Green said...

Great info AND nice pics.

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

What beautiful, beautiful birds! I could sit and look at your pictures all evening. The Bali myna is gorgeous.

Jay said...

Splendid collection of mynahs! I love the Bali mynah! Such a beautiful bird. I hope the conservation programme is successful.

I'd love you to visit my blog, but it's down at the moment because the server was hacked. Should be back tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Willard said...

Beautiful photographs. No need to change your terminology in your comment on my blog. I use the word "shots" quite frequently too!

EG CameraGirl said...

Exotic and beautiful!

Living In Williamsburg Virginia said...

Excellent photos of some really beautiful birds.

Darryl and Ruth : )

eden said...

Great captures of the Myna. Love all your pictures.

DeniseinVA said...

Beautiful photographs, and such an interesting post.

eileeninmd said...

Wow, these are all gorgeous birds and photos.

wenn said...

wow, they look magnificent. Do take a look at the peacocks in yr country.

Kristin said...

Love of photos of the birds that you captured. The birds are very cleary focused while the backgrounds or surroundings were blurred. Interesting post to go along with photos as well. Would love to go for a bird watching and photography session of wild life during the semester breaks.

Anonymous said...

Gosh - such a variety of delightful birds! Brilliantly shot!

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