birds of Australia

see also:

Introduction

  • Birds as pests
  • The native Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala, a honeyeater, aggressively attacks even larger birds and after colonizing an area they rapidly exclude other bird species reducing biodiversity in that area
  • NOT to be confused with the introduced invasive pest, the Common Myna or Indian Myna Acridotheres tristis which is a dark brown starling with black and blue wings, with black hood, yellow behind eyes, and which is also an open woodland / urban bird (pre-adapted to habitats with tall vertical structures and little to no vegetative ground cover) with a strong territorial instinct and is one of the world's most invasive species
    • nests and breeds in protected hollows including house gutters, breeding males will actively defend areas ranging up to 0.83 hectares in size and displace many breeding pairs of native hollow-nesters and can cause considerable damage to ripening fruit, particularly grapes, but also figs, apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, guava, mangoes and breadfruit, while also damaging maize, wheat crops and spreads the seeds of weeds such as Lantana camara
    • first introduced to Australia between 1863 and 1872, in Victoria, to control insects in the market gardens of Melbourne
    • it was later introduced to Queensland as a predator of grasshoppers and cane beetles
    • due to climate, they are unable to self-sustain populations in Tasmania, Darwin or the arid outback regions, and struggle on the South Island of NZ

Main bird families