Birds


Lesser Pied Kingfisher | Crimsonbreasted Barbet | Common Hoopoe
River Tern | Indian Robin | Oriental Magpie-Robin | Indian Roller
Cattle Egret | Redvented Bulbul | House Sparrow | Grey Tit
Common Myna




Photograph by H. Satish, A.R.P.S., M.F.I.A.P

Common Myna

» SCIENTIFIC NAME: Acridotheres tristis
» KANNADA NAME: Myna
» HINDI NAME: Desi myna

Next to crows, the myna is the most common bird of Bangalore. The myna is so universally familiar that it is used as a size reference when describing other birds.

Colour and description: Larger than a bulbul, smaller than a pigeon. Dark brown and black, with a bright yellow beak and legs, and a patch of bare skin near the eyes. A prominent white patch on its outer wings. Male and female look alike.

Call: A variety of calls and chatter. Mynas gather in numbers at dawn and dusk on trees and start giving their unmistakable ‘chur, chur, keek, keek, keek’ calls, with frowzled plumage and bobbing heads.

Food: Fruits and insects.

Nesting season: April to August. Male and female share parental duties. Two broods are often raised in succession.

Nest: A hole in a tree, wall or ceiling. Nest is made of twigs, roots, paper and rubbish.

Eggs: Four or five, glossy blue.