What are we to do about these flying rats?
First bought here in I think the 1860,s to kill insects they infest the east coast of Australia.
Right now at least 100 are on the roof of my home and my neighbors, we have only tank water.
Far worse,my garden is a life long dream, I have planned it every day of my life for more than 50 years.
It ,my only home I ever owned, has 32 bottle bush trees to attract birds.
Fruit trees and day Lilly's every bulb and native flowering plant I can find.
All fodder for these destructive pests.
You can legally trap and kill them, they after a while will not enter a trap.
In spring they will eat the eggs of thousands of native birds and I miss the small blue tailed Finch's once in every tree.
Are they a problem near you? are 10/80 baits laid to kill roos or rabbits ? it would help if authority's did that for these or let us do it ,leave the roos in pine forests alone.

They were brought here to help control the cattle tick but they soon learned that there were easier pickings (sorry!) on the coast.
They are smart, I have seen them go down the vertical pipe from the guttering on a house to get into the storm water drain and climb back out again; probably good tucker down there.
I have heard that wheat soaked in port wine or in rum will knock them out but I've never tried it (not with grain anyway). However this would have the drawback that if they flew away and slept it off, in a safe place, then you'd probably get more of them coming around once the word spread.

An air rifle is ideal for killing them but the law frowns on using one in a built up area and you'd have to go through all the hoops of getting a Firearms Licence, but once they learn that your place is dangerous they will tend to go elsewhere.
You could get a couple of cats and they might frighten them off for a while.

Anyway, best of luck, because whatever you do some Grssnie is going to object and anything that you do is probably going to be illegal.

I thought a bit before posting this thread.
Googled it found to my surprise they are even in far north Queensland.
My concern is it will be seen as a prod at animal welfare people.
Clearly it is not, we can, by [council says] law catch and kill, hook them up in the cadge to our car exhaust and gas them.
I would give up more than one bottle of Bundy or wine, but not if its just to give them a party.
Once, on a farm the shed would have held interesting things of some help.
It is not possible to get now, some say ratsack, does not work, they love bread and dog food most, and my young ruined once touched fruit.
Any gardener who loves birds and see Finch's parrots kings/Rosella's and the rest, magpies and larks all but Willie Wag tails fall knows why they should not be able to kill them or their eggs.

Belly, I don't think mynas are half as bad as some people make them out to be. I've lived in Townsville for 28 years. There are bucketloads of mynas here, and right up through the Wet Tropics to well north of Cairns.

But there is also a good contingent of native birds throughout the urbanised landscape. They live together in harmony pretty well with the natives.

Mynas stick to the urban areas, and intenstive agricultural areas such as canefields. They just don't go bush at all.

I think that that there are many pretty harmless feral species, of plants and animals. And there are some pretty nasty natives, which have changed their habits as humans have changed the landscape. For example, pied currawongs and noisy miners, both of which I'd consider to be much worse than common mynas.

Species of feral plants and animals that are well established should in most cases just be accepted as part of the changed ecological paradigm.

We should put most of out efforts into early detection and eradication of species that are known to be very bad news in other places and which consequently probably have huge damage potential in this country.

Let's not worry about mynas.

Dear Belly,

If you've got 100 of these pests sitting on your roof I'd be calling in the pest-control people quick, smart. These birds are a danger not only to native birds and other small native animals but they're a danger to humans as well with the diseases they carry. This is serious stuff. The following website might really open your eyes:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/08/2044900.htm
Myna Fightback.

Personally, I think it's only a myna problem. No need to get your feathers ruffled :)