29 | August | 2015 | Revelations from a Lake

Hi, and welcome!

These funny little guys are called “Noisy Miners” and are native to Australia.

They are not to be confused with the brown Common or Indian Myna birds which were brought to Australia 1862 and released into Melbourne to control insect pests in market gardens.

Even though they were not successful at this, they were taken from Melbourne to many other places in Australia, including north Queensland. In 1883 it was thought, (thought being the operative word), that they would control insect pests of sugar cane particularly plague locusts and cane beetles. How did that go for them? Not real well. Common Myna’s are now found all down the east and southern coasts of Australia where they have become a pest as the drive out the native birds and eat up their natural food. But enough of the Indian or Common Myna. The Noisy Miners are the subject of this blog.

The Noisy Miners are endearing little guys and even though they are not particularly attractive they make up for it in entertainment value and personality.

On the Quiet Side of the Great Lake there a lots of Noisy Miners. Especially this particular little guy, I call him Neville and he appeared in a feature role in my last book. Neville is a particularly clean bird and has taken exclusive ownership of our bird bath. He loves to bathe, and he does so frequently. We’ve seen him dive in 14 times in succession! That’s his record to date.

And yes, he actually dives from the side of the bird bath!

PREPARING