The Wonderful World of Australia

the ashes! Yeah, poms and aussies are kinda sworn enemies hey, like say, the and the ! But if anything can draw us into a it will be a love of animals

So I won't talk about McGrath and Warney...too much

I like the playful sense of humour that thrives on this forum.

Good idea GR. If I where you I would'nt mention BOTHofEM

WS

A favourite bird of mine is the Grey Minor, although as I've just discovered, it is not even officially called that

It is a Noisy Minor. This taken from Wikipedia:

"Found in a broad arc from Far North Queensland through New South Wales and Victoria to Tasmania and eastern South Australia, the Noisy Miner primarily inhabits dry, open eucalypt forests that lack understory shrubs. These include forests dominated by spotted gum, box and ironbark, as well as in degraded woodland where the understory has been cleared, such as recently burned areas, farming and grazing areas, roadside reserves, and suburban parks and gardens with trees and grass but without dense shrubbery. The density of Noisy Miner populations has significantly increased in many locations across its range, particularly human-dominated habitats. While the popularity of nectar-producing garden plants such as the large-flowered grevilleas was thought to play a role in its proliferation, studies now show that the Noisy Miner has benefitted primarily from landscaping practices that create open areas dominated by eucalypts.

Noisy Miners are gregarious and territorial; they forage, bathe, roost, breed and defend territory communally, forming colonies that can contain several hundred birds. Each bird has an 'activity space' and birds with overlapping activity spaces form associations called 'coteries', the most stable units within the colony. The birds also form temporary flocks called 'coalitions' for specific activities such as mobbing a predator. Group cohesion is facilitated not only by vocalizations, but also through ritualised displays which have been categorised as flight displays, postural displays, and facial displays. The Noisy Miner is a notably aggressive bird, and chasing, pecking, fighting, scolding, and mobbing occur throughout the day, targeted at both intruders and colony members."

I know that some people find this bird annoying, but I see them as having good character. They seem more brave than other birds in relation to human contact. No, I have never had one eating out of my hand, but they can come quite close to you, and that's not even with us offering them food. They are rather tiny, but I see them as being good at fighting out of their weight division.

That's right. Here we call them rats of the sky. They target our Australian wildlife, attacking, killing and driving out native Australian birds. As you can probably tell from the tone of my post, they are not one of my favorite birds

Oh man I never realised that they were particularly destructive to other bird species I must feel like someone who has loved hyenas all their life, believing them to be nice, noble creatures

But it's all to balance the food chain and eco systems right? I wonder what the noisy minor is good for then?

Also, is this bird not native to Australia?

Actually, the noisy minor is native to Australia. It is the Common myna that causes problems. The common myna is native to India, and has been declared the second greatest threat to native birds after land clearing.
Mynas compete aggressively for nesting hollows, displacing, outcompeting and excluding many native wildlife species, especially hollow-dependant animals such as parrots and gliders, they may even throw the chicks of other birds out of the nest. They quickly learn to evade traps, and warn their comrades to stay away with loud distress calls. So I was not completely correct. In it’s natural environment, the noisy miner plays an important role in natural pest management by preying on small insects, and the dispersal of native vegetation seeds. It also assists in the pollination of native plants.
[i]

Thanks for the info on the Common Myna PIR. Not heard of these before, but we have the same problems in the UK with invasive species which have been brought into the country by people. Grey Squirrels have nearly killed off all our native Red ones with disease, and habitat takeover. Foreign Crayfish are decimating our river population of UK ones, and Mink are wiping out our Water Voles. We even have a wild population of Parrots in the Parks in London. If people had realised what would happen years later when they brought these animals in, then I think they would have changed their minds
WS

PIR, I knew that my precious little Grey Minor couldn't be all bad

I'm enjoying this thread and reading what PIR and GR have to say re wildlife/birdlife in Aus. - not that I don't enjoy what you have to say WS

Lai

PIR & GR you are doing a grand job in informing us about your native wildlife and like WS and Lai I am learning things I didn't know, so I hope these Aussie Wildlife Lessons will continue Also loving the sense of humour that is shinning through

littlewid-x-

Good points being made about the negativity of foreign species introduction. To the best of my knowledge (not great, so please add to it ) the worst example in Australia is the cane toad. PIR might know a lot about that as I think Queensland was badly hit by them. Down more south - my way - rabbits have been a major issue; they just breed soooo quickly! Too much not enough

The knowledge may run out, but the humour shall continue. We are from the land of the kookaburra

GR - your humour is great.

We also have a serious problem with rabbits - I know they are lovely furry little things, but they cause a lot of damage as do squirrels and they both breed far too quickly!

Lai

They must believe that their furry cuteness can enable them to get away with anything. And they are probably right

- We've a bunny in the garden that's been here for at least two years and now he's huge - he's called Benjamin bunny or Peter rabbit depending on my mood (Tales of Beatrix Potter) and the dogs are always trying to catch him but he's too smart!

Lai

Maybe it would be different if you had a Jack Russell! Bella has caught a couple of mice. But I would say that a rabbit would be faster and smarter than a mouse. Nice to hear that Petamin is keeping your dogs active :)

In answer to your question about percentage of non native species in countries. I think as you say a lot will depend on the size, and location of the country, but I think the country with the biggest percentage could be your neighbours New Zealand, nearly all the mamals there where brought in from other countries.
A short piece from Wki
The animals of New Zealand have a particularly interesting history because, before the arrival of humans, less than 900 years ago, the country was completely free of mammals, except those that could swim there (seals, sea lions, and, off-shore, whales) or fly there (bats). This meant that all the ecological niches occupied by mammals elsewhere were occupied by either insects or birds, leading to an unusually large number of flightless birds, including the Kiwi, the Weka, the Moa, and the Kakapo. Because of the lack of predators even the bats spend most of their time on the ground. There are also about 60 species of lizard (30 each of gecko and skink), and four species of frog (all rare and endangered).

WS

I don't like to admit to Penny's ability to give the squirrels and rabbits a certain amount of grief GR. She's a rescue retired greyhound and although 11 and now very stiff, she can outrun our rhodesian ridgeback easily.

Penny's all time favourite is to chase squirrels, lucky for them they can climb trees! She often used to catch them, not good news!

Lai

Thanks for the info regarding my neighbour NZ WS. I laughed when it says that even the bats spend most of their time on the ground; just this image of all these lazy animals living in paradise! So maybe predators do serve a good many purposes. They really should have introduced leopards there

Lai, I suppose we can't help it if our dogs want to chase particular animals. It's their natural instinct. When Bella killed a mouse, it was almost like she was sorry to do so afterwards, and spent some time licking/caressing it. When she gets a new toy she always wants to bite into it - like a carcass - but again, sometimes she will be licking it later, almost saying "I'm sorry!"

I have a lot of 'fluff' around my house from Bellas shenanigans :)

Oh, and I don't think that Bella would like Penny She had an incident about a year ago where she was attacked by a greyhound (must have looked like a rabbit to that dog), but fortunately she was okay.

You are yawning like those leopards that Lai saw recently on safari...that she took many photos of...photos which she is going to share with us on WAA very very very soon!

Hint hint hint

Oh dear that's awful GR and sadly not that unusual, poor greyhounds are used to chasing little furry things and can't always tell the difference to a stuffed one on the track. My mum has a small x breed shitzu type dog and we have to keep them apart

Ha ha that's a good hint GR - I am dying to share my handsome leopard boy yawning but need to sort out a few.

I'll start a new thread soon .......................

Lai

I remembered a programe on TV about NZ Doogs thats now I knew about there being no mamals there.
WS

Some pics from Healsville Sanctuary, Victoria:

Plus more: