7500 Mynas down and still counting

To date trappers in the CVCIA Indian Myna program have trapped and euthanased over 7500 of the pest Indian Mynas. Help protect your much loved native birds from this serious threat. The program is still very active and welcomes any new trappers or others who want to be involved in co-ordination. We can be contacted via mynas@cvcia.org.au

Brisbane Indian Myna Workshop

Laura and Kevin have just returned from Brisbane where they ran an education, trapping and trap building workshop for Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (known as B4C).
There was a mixed group of over 25 people present for the morning session where Laura talked about the Indian Myna problem why they are so bad, how to combat it and how trapping can assist to maintain the balance and allow our wonderful natives to survive.
After they enjoyed a healthy lunch Kevin then lead the remainder through an introduction to trap building focusing mainly on the trickier sections so that people could go away and build their own traps. This is the first time we have run a trap building session and although we saw ways to improve the session those that stayed appeared to learn and enjoy. We found it a rewarding trip and hopefully those who attended felt the same.

Modified PeeGee trap to reduce freight costs

We have had lots of enquiries for our really well built PeeGee traps and although we charge only $25 for a trap the freight costs made then them too expensive for most trappers. So with lots of help from our trap builders we have come up with a modified version where the smaller trapping section fits inside the larger holding section thus halving the over all volume. Although the trap requires a bit of assembly this modification reduces the freight cost to around $30 for most NSW and southern Queensland.

The traps are supplied with detailed assembly instructions as well as how to trap hints and a small bag of our preferred bait (ie Lucky Dog Minis).

The pictures below show the trap as delivered and the result after a bit of assembly. For a copy of the assembly instruction please click



Modified trap as delivered

Assembled trap ready to go.

6300 Indian Mynas down

It's been a rather slow 2014 winter period for trapping mynas possibly due to very low rainfall but we are still putting a dent in their numbers and helping maintain a balance for the betterment (is that a word?) for our native wildlife.  Tally is over 6,300  (Jan 2011 - Aug 2014).  Well done everybody.

Australia Day Celebration – One for our Native Birds

This Australia Day weekend Laura and I were able to-do our bit for the native hollow dwelling birds and mammals.

There were a few Indian Mynas about the property last week but we had been unable to lure them to our trap near the house even with our caller. So Friday night we set another trap (without a caller) in the area where we had seen some of them on the ground.

Saturday morning a flock of Mynas descended on the trap and soon we had several in the trap. By nightfall after the remaining un-trapped Mynas had left the area, we went to check the results, 16 birds trapped!  We had seen more, using binoculars, around the trap earlier, so we set a second trap.

This time we put two callers in each trap and on Sunday another 14 ventured in making a total of 30 birds in 2 days. One trap is still out but either we got them all or they have moved on for now.

There have never been this many birds here before. These two days tally is more than our previous three years.

Remote South Pacific island aims to be first in the world to eliminate mynas

Early last century, the myna was introduced to Atiu Island in Cook Islands as a way of controlling insects and other pests in crops and gardens.

But within a few short years, its aggressive behaviour destroyed the local bird populations.

In 2000, the myna was declared to be among the world's 100 worst invasive species.

The people of Atiu have gone a step further, declaring a war on the myna - calling themselves the 'myanators'.

To see the rest of the story follow this link to the ABC website  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-06/an-cook-islands-aims-to-be-first-in-the-world-to-eliminate-myna/5185870

5000 MYNAS DOWN and STILL COUNTING

The CVCIA's Indian Myna group has now removed over 5000 of the pest birds from our pristine Clarence Valley environment, thereby allowing thousands more nest sites available for our wonderful natives.
Well done all trappers, keep up the great work.
Remember even if you only stop one pair from breeding over a couple of years they could have produced over one hundred offspring.

2013 Indian Myna Conference

YOU’RE INVITED TO THE INDIAN MYNA CONFERENCE

Titled - "Towards Best Practice Indian Myna Control" This conference is being held in Canberra June 19th at the CSIRO Discovery Centre.  So plan a wintery trip and include this one full day conference on your way to the snow fields, or Turner’s exhibition at the Canberra Art Gallery, or even better—the Britain & Irish Lions vs. ACT Brumbies Rugby Union game in Canberra, or whatever takes your fancy.  But make sure you pre-book accommodation as Canberra is pretty busy then.  Please come along and join us in our afternoon discussion and exchange ideas and observations and listen to the Drs, PhDs and other experts in the morning.  If you’re interested, please click on this link for the program or registration form or contact Kevin 6649 4712 for details.  We are looking forward to getting together with many other IM groups.
 

 

3/5/13 - Cold, cold toading nights!

When Rob suggested after Wednesday night's meeting that we go toading Friday night I screwed my nose up and said "won't it be a bit cold?" but after some cajoling I agreed so the 6 usual suspects (minus Kath, Mark and Annie) headed to Yamba to see if we could find any toads out.

Well blow me down if we didn't get 214 toads and scooped 50 tadpoles out! Goes to show you can still head out with your beanies and mittens and make a difference. :)

Beth and Ant, who is so cold he has wrapped a toad sack (clean!) around his shoulders!

Myna tally passes 4000

After a slow February when lots of rain and subsequent floods prevented most trapping, our tally of Indian Mynas trapped has passed 4000. Great work everyone, please keep us updated with your monthly trapping numbers.
However there are still plenty around as the recently taken photos show, so we still need to keep trapping and monitoring.

Junction Hill more than 75 Mynas (thanks Bevan for photo)

Palmers Island 65+ (Kevin snapped this one)

Lismore's Big Trap

Lismore City Council and the Men's Shed have built a large trap intended for areas with major Indian Myna populations. The photo show its size against a normal Pee Gee trap, we will keep you posted on their results.

Toadbusting Backtoad

Well, I'm a little behind in updating the blog for cane toad busting! Sorry everyone. Since my last post we have been out 3 times!

15th Feb - we went to Yamba and bagged 151 cane toads from the usual haunts. On 1st March we went to the Yamba Golf course (9 vols -great turnout!) and in between the rain and the harassment bagged 654 cane toads (there were tadpoles in the dam nearest the golf club).

Then on 15th March, 6 vols (not me - I was out sick!) spent the night out at Brooms Head with the amazing Russell Jago and bagged 270 cane toads.

Rob recording toads caught with Russell Jago

So we are pottering along with the same few volunteers but happy to chug along. See you out in the swamp! Cheers, Sharon.

11/1/13 - Mororo Cane Toad Busting

On Friday night 15 volunteers went out at Mororo in the heat to pick up 140 cane toads. It was probably the quietest I have seen it at Mororo - is it the dry? It is certainly hot enough for them and we needed to be quick. Some of the local ...dams are still creating perfect breeding habitat for them but it was good and do some good old fashioned "round the edge of dams male toad snatching" work. 

Bevan was awarded a CIA toad shirt (for his dedication to invasive animal control - top toad buster and just reached over 1000 common mynas caught), Rob, new cane toad coordinator also was awarded a shirt. I am planning at CIA facebook competition shortly which will involve winning the few shirts I have left (cleaning up my house and simplifying life!).

Ant spent his day in front of a truck at Glenugie then the night picking up toads so no wonder he needed a litlte nanna nap at the end! Thank you to all the people who came out. Greta to see lower numbers of toads. Hopefully this dry season will give a chance to get round them a bit more and slow the advance. Cheers, Sharon.

 

Bevan’s got a thousand mynas

Bevan Pugh is undeniably Clarence Valley’s number one Indian Myna trapper.

He started trapping in late 2007 after seeing a group of Indian Mynas kick a pair of Rosellas out of their nest at the Grafton Ag.  Station. Bevan has now removed 1000 of these feral pests from around his home in South Grafton (over 500 in the last 2 years). Also he trapped and euthanased a couple of foxes that were preying on the trapped birds. 

He’s a very active CIA committee member, is happy to share his trapping experiences and is a regular catcher at CIA Cane Toading evenings.

Congratulations Bevan, thanks for your much appreciated dedication.

30/11/2012 Yamba Myna Workshop

Thirty-five people packed the Old Kirk Hall at the Yamba Museum to overflowing to hear what can be done about this nasty bird. As well as locals there were also a couple tourists from Sydney and Melbourne who were looking for help with mynas there. We were also pleased to have Bruce who single handed keeps the mynas at bay in Wooli, his comments were most helpful.

Well done Paul our Yamba coordinator who organised the venue and publicity. Thanks also to Helen of Angourie Landcare who delivered flyers to residents of Angourie and Woolewayah and a special thanks to Pam our Grafton coordinator who provided morning tea and assisted on the day.

The audience seemed very interested as there were lots of questions both during the presentation and over the friendly cuppa afterwards. I always felt Yamba was a bit slow on taking up the program but maybe I was wrong, two traps have been placed since the meeting and we are hopeful of more.



17/11/2012 Granite Borders Landcare - Indian Myna Workshops

Granite Borders Landcare recently received a “Caring for Our Country” grant similar to CVCIA and our IM organisers Laura and Kevin were invited by GBLC to present three workshops to help kick-start their program before the mynas are able to get established in their area. Twelve people attended the Stanthorpe workshop at the Community Garden including one from Warwick who had many mynas in his garden and needed help to try to get something going in Warwick.

 The second session was at Drake 50 kilometres east of Tenterfield.  Although only three people turned up it was still a fruitful session as they were all interested in helping set it up in their little community.

That afternoon the final workshop was at the GBLC Office in Tenterfield. Over twenty people attended what was the most successful meeting with many people offering to help control the pests here. Mark placed his first trap even though it wasn’t quite finished, the trapper was happy to add the finishing touches, if allowed to get trapping straight away.

A lady came to open the hall for the Stanthorpe workshop.  She stayed only to close up but listened to the presentation.  Afterwards she said told us “I’m an environmentalist and would not have considered attending this, but I’ve changed my mind – I didn’t realise how devastating mynas are.  I’m glad I came.”

News from up North

The latest news from WA - Stop the Toad group inccluding maps, awards and fences. Check out the cool new Wicked Van!

http://www.stopthetoad.org.au/

Cheers, Sharon.

26/10/12 - Warregah Toadbusting

What a great night we had at Warregah Island! 201 cane toads. The night was warm with lots of bugs out. We actually had 197 at the end of the night but Rob and Bevan refused to leave until we had 200. We had a newbie along and local too so it was great to meet Al and have his input! Beth modelled our new headlights (my muse!) and Kath and Mark came along again.

Sharon D and Ant complained about my Hip Hop music on the trip up but it was lovely to have the company. Toading on again in about 3-4 weeks at Woombah - keep an eye on the website calendar. Cheers, Sharon.

 

Toadbusting Year 4 to commence!

Hello everyone. Time to come out of hibernation and get out in the paddock! Tentative toadbust dates have been added into the CVCIA website calendar http://cvcia.org.au so check them out and txt/email me if you would like ot come along. Cheers, Sharon.

Rat Survey - Susan Island - 24th June 2012

Oh what a lark! Laura and Kevin went over to Susan Island to help Russell Jago on Saturday (he was eternally grateful) and Bevan and I decided to go over at 5:30am Sunday morning.

Do you know the saying, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Well, let's just say Bevan and I had a few "boat issues" but none of them were the boat's fault, were they Bevan?! Paddling the speedboat across the last half of the river warmed me up nicely as it was FREEZING!!

Good news is that only 2 feral rats were trapped over the week thus the island is not overrun with the little blighters. It was lovely to do something else, and in the daytime too! Cheers, Sharon.