tus ist 'b tio m n ß t i ß

BILLPRANT¾ ß8515 VILLAGE MILL ROW - BAYONET POINT, FLORIDA 34667 ß (EMAIL: BILLPRANTY@HOTMAILCOM)

Figure1.Adult Common at Seven Sp•ngs, Pasco Count. FIo•da, 28 O•ober •. •is photogr•hd•uments one of the no•hemmo• •cords of the in FIo•da, and the no•hem- mo•rec•d To da•e along •e recentlycolonized Gulf coast. InaddiUon • •e•r disUn••umage•brown bo• withbla• head,wings, and tail, white wing and tail patches, and yellow soft p•Com- mortMynas are disUnguished fromother royhas by•eir cordingmannec semi-•,es•al habits, and habitat prefere•es. Usually, asshown here, suitable myna habitat in FIo•da comists ofpa•ing lots ofsho•ing centen orfast-food restaUghtS, where the sear• for Fren• •es, pota••i•, orsimilar fare. Photogrop• byKen Tracey.

Abstract nent,and east through lndochina (Feare and flus, New Hebrides,and the ,and Thispaper summarizes the knownstatus and Craig1998). Twosubspecies are recognized: elsewhere(Long 1981, Lever1987, A.O.U. distribution in Florida of the exotic Common melanosternus,which is endemic to southern 1998, Kannanand James 2001). Myna (Atridotherestristis), focusing particu- Indiaand , and the widespread nom- CommonMynas were discovered in south- larly on the species'range expansion in the inatesubspecies, tristis, which has been wide- ernFlorida during the early 1980s. Since that past25 yearsand on its currentpopulation ly introduced,either intentionally for time, the populationhas been expanding in size. control,or accidentallyfrom the pet trade rangeand increasing in numbers.The species (Long1981, Lever 1987). Exotic populations hasbeen ignored by ornithologistsand - Background of CommonMynas are now foundin Aus- ers in Floridaand so remainslargely un- CommonMyna ( tristis; Figure 1) tralia,Florida, Hong Kong, , New known except for anecdotalinformation is nativeto the CaspianSea region and Kaza- Zealand, Polynesia,South , island compiledfor thispaper. The recentdiscovery khstan,south through the Indiansubconti- chainssuch as , the Maidives,Mauri- of a roostof perhaps400 CommonMynas at

658 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS STATUSANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYNAIN FLORIDA

Palm Beach

60 Mllee

Common Myna reportl B•oward ß 1982-1990 ß 1991-1999 ß 2000-2007 '• FloridaCity roo=t

oo

Miami- Dade

L

Figure2.Distribution ofthe Common Myna inFlorida, 1982-2007. Most locations within 0.8 km of one another are Figure3. DistributionofCommon Myna along the southern Atlantic coast of Florida, combined.Notethat the myna's range has inceased inextent and distance from Miami during each eight- or nine- 1982-2007.Most locations within 0.8 km of oneanother are combined. Each location yearperiod. Each location mapped iscolored according tothe earliest report, sothis map should not be used to gauge mappediscolored according tothe earliest report, so this map should not be used to populationpersistence. Thearea shown bounded inred may be considered asthe limits ofthe Common Myna's cur- gaugepopulation persistence. Amuch greater number ofobservers inMiami-•de rentcore range. There isalso arecent report ofan apparent Common Myna at Sapelo Island. Georgia (see text]. relativetoBroward and Palm Beach may skew the apparent distribution ofmynas alongthe southern Atlantic coast; 72% of the observations from these three counties arefrom Mimni-Oade. Thearea shown bounded inred (minimum convex polygon), FloridaCity, along with recentobservations Florida representdispersers whichmay be considered asthe known limits of Common Myna's current core range, alongthe central Gulf coast, rekindled my in- from known populations 'si more than 1760 km 2 Insize. The distribution ofmynas within this core range is like- terestin thisspecies. This papersummarizes ratherthan local escapees. I ex- lymuch greater than what it showndue to birder disinterest andtraffic congestion. the pastquarter-century of Florida records of pressabundance of mynason Thered star marks the location ofthe Florida City roost, which was estimated tocon- CommonMyna, its rangeexpansion, and its ChristmasBird Countys as the tainabout 400 inNovember 2006. The scarcity ofreported observations currentpopulation size in thestate. number of individuals ob- aroundthis roost is of interest: there is surely incomplete information ofmyna range, evenwhere the birds are most numerous andpresumably most widespread. servedper 1000party-hours to Methods takeadvantage of wholenumbers of royhas. lantic coastin Palm Beach,Broward, and Mia- I compiledobservations of CommonMynas All countynames are listed in parentheses mi-Dade(Figure 3). from the seasonalbird reportspublished in and italics,and siteswhere royhas have bred Florida Field Naturalist and American are marked with an asterisk. SummaryofObservations Birds/NorthAmerican Birds, from Stevenson I have divided all observations of Common and Anderson(1994), the FloridaBreeding Results Mynasin Floridainto oneof threeperiods of Bird Atlasproject (1986-1991; Kale et al. I compiled275 observations of Common My- nearlyequal duration: the first nine years 1992), observationsposted to the threepri- nas in Florida since 1982. Of these, 171 (1982-1990), the second nine years maryonline birding lists in Florida:BrdBrain, (62%)had not beenpublished formally; most (1991-1999),and the most recent eight years FloridaBirds-L, and the Miami BirdBoard representedrecent posts to online birding (2000-2007). (T.A.S. 2007), and the ChristmasBird Count lists.All observationsrepresent 98 discretelo- (C.B.C.) database(hAS 2007). Becausethe cations(Figure 2). Overall,Common Mynas 1982-1990•The publishedliterature indi- CommonMyna is a conspicuousand unwary havebeen reported in 20 countiesin Florida catesthat CommonMynas were first ob- semi-terrestrialspecies that is closelyassoci- andhave been reported to breedin 13of these servedin Floridaon the DadeCounty C.B.C. atedwith areasof humandevelopment, it is (Table1). All but one report,from Neptune (Miami-Dade) on 17 December 1983 (Robert- usuallynoticed, even by nowcebirders. I Beach (Duval), are from the southern two- son and Woolfenden1992), and that they mappedall locationsas specifically as possi- thirdsof thepeninsula or themainline Flori- were first observedbreeding at Homestead ble, thenentered them into a GeographicIn- da Keys(those traversed by US-1).There is (Miami-Dade)on 22 May 1985 (Stevenson formationSystem (GIS) coverage. I combined alsoa recentreport from southernGeorgia andAnderson 1994). However, Larry Manfre- mostlocations that were within 0.8 kin. I pre- (seebelow). The strongholdof the Common di (in litt.) first saw Common Mynas at sumethat all CommonMyna observations in Myna in Floridais alongthe southernAt- Hialeah(Miami-Dade) in 1982,by whichtime

VOLUUE 61 (2007) ß HUUBER 4 659 ISTAT•SANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYN•-IN FLORIDA

Figure4.Common Mynas reported onChristmas BirdCounts inFlorida, from the 84th (1983-1984) Figure5. Chronologyofactive Common Myna nests inFlorida with known dates, 1982-2007 through107th (2006-2007) C.B.C. periods. Numbers ofroyhas a•e graphed per 1000 party-hunrs to (n=17)by half-menth intervals. Oates refer to the earliest sign of nesting activity. takeadvantage ofwhale numbers ofbirds. they were alreadybreeding. Within a few *EvergladesCity (Collier) in 19897, and was 16 birdsat Tequestain November1986 yearsof theirdiscovery, mynas had dispersed Ochopee(Collier) in 1990(Table 1). (Atherton and Atherton 1987). to near Belle Glade (Palm Beach) in 1984, Thuswithin nineyears of theirdiscovery EvergladesNational Park, *Homestead, in Florida, CommonMynas had colonized 1991-1999--Common Mynas colonized *Kendall, and *Miami (all Miami-Dade) in seven counties (Brevard, Broward, Collier, *West Palm Beach(Palm Beach) in 1991, Stu- 1985,Tequesta (Palm Beach) in 1986,*Cocoa Hendry, Martin, Miami-Dade, and Palm art (Martin) in 1992, *1ona (Lee) in 1993, and Beach (Brevard) in 1987, *Clewiston Beach),with breedingconfirmed in six of *Hollywood(Broward), the MiccosukeeIndi- (Hendry)in 1988,near Indiantown (Martin), these(all but Martin;Table 1). The highest an Reservation (Miami-Dade), and near near *Pembroke Pines (Broward), and at countof royhasobtained during 1982-1990 JonathanDickinson State Park (Martin or

Figures6 and 7. Two examples ofCommon Myna nests in Florida. Mynas build their nests"in any place that will hold a largepile of leaves, twigs, paper, and the like"(Kannan andJames 2001). in Florida, onenest was placed inthe crotch ofa BlackOlive, while others have been built in cavities inwooden utility poles o• niches instreet lights. Perhaps most Common Myna nests in Florida are built within let- tersof logos attached tocommercial buildings. These two nests were built within lettering ofPublix supermarkets, inthe "d" of "food" and the "c" of "pharmacy;' respectively. Theimage at left shows a nestwith three nestlings, from Kendall, Miami-Dade County, 1June 2002, with the image at right, of an occupied nest with unknown contents, from Pompano Beach, Broward County, 21July 2007. Pho- tographsbyJohn H. Boyd and BilI Pranty, respectively.

660 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS STATUSANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYNA•N FLORID•

Rangeexpansion Sincethe early 1980s, Common Mynas have exhibiteda nearlycontinuous series of dis- persalevents outward in nearlyall directions fromMiami-Dare. Ihese dispersalscontinue to consolidatethe myna'srange along the southern Atlantic coast and to result in new colonizationof areasinland, along the main- lineKeys, the Gulf coast, and north along the Atlanticcoast. Each of thethree temporal pe- riodslisted above documents an increasing number of counties colonized, from seven during 1982-1990, 11 during 1991-1999, and 18 during2000-2007. Between 1982 and 2007, CommonMynas had been observed in 20 countiesin Florida--plusone countyin Georgia--withall but Collierand Martinoc- cupiedduring 2000-2007. Georgiareport Becausea recentreport of an apparentCom- monMyna in Georgiawas not mentionedby Davis(2002) andwas reported too late for in- clusion in Beatonet al. (2003), I include it Figure8. Aflock of at least 188 Common Mynas atFlorida City, Miami-Dade County, Florida, DATE. The recent discovery ofa commu- here.On 11May 2002, two observers noted nalroost of perhaps 400 Common Mynas atFlorida City in November 2006 provided lhe first proof that the myna population inFlori- mostunusual bird" at theferry parking lot on danumbers atleast in the hundreds ofindividuals. Photograph b•I•rrxManfredi. SapeloIsland (Mcintosh) about 80 km northof the Georgia/Floridaborder. The bird wasde- Palm Beach) in 1995. Common Mynas Key Biscayne(Miami-Dade) in 2004, and scribedby Cohrs(2002) as"... a littlesmaller reached*Fort Pierce(St. Lucie)and lslamora- HolmesBeach (Mariatee) and LakeApopka thana BlueJay,it wasmostly black with a yel- da and *Key West(both Monroe)in 1997, RestorationArea (Orange)in 2005. Mynas low pointybeak and had yellow eye ring and Golden Gate Estates (Collier) in 1998, and thencolonized other areas along the central a yellowspot behind the eye.When flying, *PompanoBeach (Broward), Sebastian (Indi- Gulf coast,at St. Petersburg(Pinelias) and therewas a white flashon the wing [thatl an River), and *Sanford (Seminole)in 1999 SevenSprings (Pasco) in 2006,and Clearwa- showedup asa whitestreak on theside when (Iable 1). Ihe Sanford site marked the north- ter (Pinelias) and *Port Charlotte (Charlotte) sitting.The breastwas robin-orange. The legs ernmostbreeding site in Florida, approxi- in 2007 (Iable 1). Ihe NeptuneBeach myna wereyellow. The tail waswedge shaped with mately350 km north-northwestof Miami. was more than 500 km from Miami. Even whiteedging [andl ... lookedlike an arrow- During their secondnine-year period in more significantly,it accompaniedtwo or head.The bird walked as opposed to hopping. Florida,Common Mynas occupied 11 coun- three EuropeanStarlings (Sturnus vulgaris) Posturewas fairly erect." This description of a ties (Brevard,Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee, into a supermarketsign 1 May 2004 andwas "mostly black" body and "robin-orange" Martin, Miami-Dare, Monroe,Palm Beach,St. observedfeeding a juvenile starlingseven breastare incorrectfor CommonMyna, but Lucie,and Seminole), with breeding in eightof dayslater (Pranty 2004a). Nonetheless, 1 do the restof thedescriptions of plumage,habi- these (all but Brevard,Collier, and Martin). notconsider these behaviors to representcon- tat,and behavior accord well with thespecies. Mynasbecame extirpated from three counties timed breeding;Kannan and James(2001) Indeed,the yellowsoft parts, white wing and (Brevard,Collier [1991 and 1998], and Mar- list two otherobservations of CommonMy- tail patches,and terrestrialfeeding habits tin), they recolonizedone county (Collier nasfeeding the young of othersturnids. pointto anAcridotheres myna, and none of the [19991),and theycolonized four new coun- Bythe end of 2007,Common Mynas occu- worldõ10 speciesof Acridotheresmynas has ties (Lee, Monroe, St. Lucie, and Seminole). pied partsof 18 counties(Brevard, Broward, an orangebreast (Feare and Craig 1998). 1 be- Ihe highestcount of mynasobtained during Charlotte,Duvol, Hendry, Highlands, Indian Riv- lievethat the SapeloIsland myna was a Com- 1991-1999was 22 birdson theDade County er, Lee,Manatee, Miami-Dare, Monroe, Orange, monMyna. and, coupled with its locationon C.B.C.in December1994 (Cooper 1995). PalmBeach, Pasco, Pinelias, St. Lucie,Seminole, a largelyuninhabited harrier island, was more andVolusia), with breedingin 11 of these(all likelyto havebeen a disperserfrom one of the 2000-2007--CommonMynas colonized De- but Brevard,Duval, Martatee, Orange, Pasco, Floridapopulations than a localescapee. Land(Volusia), Boynton Beach (Palm Beach), Pinelias,and Volasia).Mynas recolonized one and Flamingo, EvergladesNational Park county(Brevard) and colonizedseven others Populationsize (Monroe)in 2000, *Lake Placid(Highlands) (Charlotte,Duval, Mariatee,Orange, Pasco, Whilethe size of theCommon Myna popula- in 2001, the Ien Ihousand IslandsC.B_C. cir- Pinelias,and Volasia)_ Ihe highestcount of my- tion in Florida is unknown, it numbersin the cle (Collier) in 2002, *Goodwin Marsh Wa- nasobtained during 2000-2007 was a commu- several hundreds of individuals at least. The ter[owlManagement Area (Brevard and Indian nal roostof perhaps400 at FloridaCity (Mia- discoveryin November2006 of the Florida River)in 2003, NeptuneBeach (Duva/) and mi-Dare)in November2006 (Pranty1007a). City roostthat contained perhaps 400 mynas

VOLUME 61 (2007) NUMBER 4 661 JSTATUSANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYNA IN FLORIDA

Table1. Distribution ofCommon Mynas inFlorida bycounty. Mynas have been observed in20 of Florida's 67counties andhave bred in 13 of these. •e Panhan- (Pranty 2007a) verified dleis the only region not yet known tobe colonized bymynas. Infrequent reports doud the current status ofsome breeding populations (i.e.,those inIndian that the current myna River,St.Lucie, and Seminole), which are here considered tobe extirpated butthat may be extant but recently unreported ornot observed. population in Florida numbers in the hundreds County Duration Breedingstatus Comments of individuals(e.g., Fig- Rrevard 1987-1991,2003-2005Extirpated Singlepairs at Cocoa Beach and along the lndian River line ure 8). It should be noted Broward 1999-present Current Fairlywidespread that the location of this roost is far from the Charlone 2007 Current Onepair at Port Charlotte mappedlocations of most Collier 1984 1990,1998 Extirpatod Singlepairs (?) at Everglades Cityand Golden Gate Estates, andone bird at Ochopee mynas,even thoseelse- Ouval 2004 No Onebird at Neptune Beach where in Miami-Dade HeMry 1988-present Current Upto 8 birds at Clewiston (Figure 3), suggesting Highlands 2001,2002 Extirpated Onepair at Lake Placid and one bird near there that numerous locations occupied by Common IndianRiver 2000,2003-2005 Extirpated Onepair along the Rrevardline Mynasin theregion have Lee 1993-1997,2005-2007 Current Twoor three pairs at Fort Myers not beenreported. Monatee 2005-2006 No Onebird at HolmesBeach Martin 198__,1992-1995 No Onepair near Indiantown .Population Increase Miami-Dado1982-present Current Widespread;mostof perhaps 400 at Florida City The limited data on the Monroe 1997-present Current Fairlywidespread along mainline Keys; none on the mainland size of the local myna Orange 2005 No Onebird at Lake Apopka populations in Florida PalmReach 1984,1986,1999-presentCurrent Fairlywidespread make it difficult to docu- Pasco 2006 No Onebird at Seven Springs ment overallpopulation trends. However, two Pine#as 2006,2007 No SinglesatClearwater andSt Petersburg sources of data are avail- St.Lucie 1997-2002 Extirpated Onepair at Fort Pierce able. The first is simply Semi•ole 1999-2002 Extirpated Onepair (?) at Sanford the highest number of Volusia 2001 No Onebird at DeLand mynas reported at any one site duringthe three temporalperiods: 16 dur- Table2. Common Mynas on all Florida Christmas BirdCounts (C.B.C s)between the 84th (1983-1984) and 107th (2006-2007) count periods. Vertical ing 1982-1990,22 dur- linesseparate thethree temporal periods (1982-1990,1991-1999, and2000-2007) used in this paper. A"O"(zero) indicates that no mynas were seen; ing 1991-1999,and per- "nc"denotesthatno C.B.C. was conducted, and"cw"denotes thatone or more mynas were seen during count week but not on count day. Count names (abbreviated)andthe counties inwhich they are located areas follows: CO=Cocoa (Brevard); OC=Dade County (Miami-Dare); FP=Fort Pierce (St. Lucie); haps 400 during 2000- JD=Jonathan Dickinson StatePark (Martin and Palm Beach); KA=Kendall Area(Miami-Dare); KL=Key Largo-Plantation Key(Monroe); KW=Key West 2007 (Table 1). A better (Monroe);RP=Royal Palm-Homestead (Miami-Dore); SB=South Brevard County (Brevard andIndian River); ST=Stuart (Martin);1-l'=Ten l•ousand Islands index for gaugingpopu- (Collier);andWP=West Palm Beach (Palm Beach). *The 2 royhasonthe Cocoa C.B.C. during the 91st count period were listed asCrested Mynas. However, lation growth is the giventhat had never previously beenreported outside ofthe Miami area, and further considering thatCommon Mynas had been observed C.B.C. database (NAS atCocoa Beach (within the Cocoa C.B.C. circle) between 1987 and 1993, itseems clear that these"Crested Mynas" were misJdenrified Common Mynas. 2007). C.B.C. data sho• Sourceofall data: the online C.B.C. database (NAS 2007). a dramatic increase in the CB.C. 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 1041105106 107 numberof CommonMy- CO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2* 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 has reportedper party- DC 6 0 2 2 2 0 0 7 2 0 2 22 19 5 10 22 12 14 30 33 39 84 27 13 hour beginningwith the 98th countperiod (Fig- FP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 nc nc nc 0 0 0 0 4 cw 0 0 0 0 0 0 ure 4). These data also JO nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 show a nearly equally KA nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc 2 4 19 nc 2 dramaticdecrease begin- KL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 5 4 11 ning with the 106th count period, but this KW nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc 3 2 "decline"is thoughtto be RP nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc cw 6 6 6 6 14 nc nc nc nc nc the result of inconsistent SB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 surveyingon Christmas ST 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bird Countysin Miami- Dade (see Discussion). ßrr nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc nc 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 wP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 6 6 5 2 7 7 4 5 7 3 4 2 Population # CBCs I 0 I I I 0 0 2 3 2 2 2 4 3 3 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 persistence Non-OC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 2 4 9 6 11 8 21 13 19 12 16 27 11 17 Common Mynas have persisted--indeed,they OC 6 0 2 2 2 0 0 7 2 0 2 22 19 5 10 22 12 14 30 33 39 84 27 13 have thrived in Miami-

662 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS STATUSANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYNA INFLORIDA'

Dade since their discov- Table3.All known breeding observations ofCommon Mynas in Florida (n= 42). Because royhasnest almost exclusively incavities, the nest contents arerarely eryin 1982(Table 1), and observed.Asaresult, mostobservations ofnests inFlorida areof occupied nests:adults observed entering orleaving acavity orniche. theyhave expanded their range northward into County Locatien Oate(s) Substrate Status Reference Broward and Palm Beach BrowardFort Lauderdale 12Nov 2001 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Pranty2002b (Figure 3). Although BrowardOakland Park 3Apr 2007 ? Pairwith nesting material T.Eakins toBirdBoard some colonization events failedto producestable BrowardParkland 17 Sep 2004 Trafficlight observedFamily;occupiedearlier nest "Paul"toBirdBoard populations,even where BrowardPembroke Pines 18 •r 2007 Buildingsignage Building anest D.Humescort toFloridaBirds-L breedingoccurred (e.g., EvergladesCity and Lake BrowardPompano Beach May1999 BuildingsignageTwooccupied nests Pranty1999 Placid), other coloniza- BrowardPompano Beach 21Jul2007 BuildingsignageOccupiednest Figure7 tions have succeeded, BrowardSunrise 5Jan 2002 ? 2adults and1 juvenile G.Feuss toFldridaBirds-L and some areas have been CharlottePort Charlotte 18-20 •y 2007 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Pranty2007b repeatedly colonized (e.g.,Brevard, Collier, and Hendry Clewiston-1988 Streetlight Occupiednest J.Orsenigo inlitt. Lee). Furthermore, the Hendry Clewiston19Jun 1995 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Pranty1996 Miami-Dadepopulation Hendry Clewiston 7Jun1999 Buildingsignage Occupied nest P.Bowen inlitt. survived the effects of Hendry Clewiston13 Aug 2000 Buildingsignage Nest with >_2 nestlings Pranty2001b Hurricane Andrew, a Cat- Hendry Clewiston 2001 Signcavity Occupiednest D.Humeston inlitt. egory4 stormthat devas- tated the Homestead area Hendry Clewiston1 Nov 2003 ? Flockwith 2juveniles Pranty2004b in August 1992. Smith Hendry Clewiston8 Aug 2004 Streetlight Occupiednest B.Pranty pets.obs. (in Pranty 1995) stated HighlandsLake Placid 2002? Streetlight Nestlingonground ELohrer inlitt. that the CommonMyna Lee FortMyers 6May2007 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Pranty2007b; G.Hampton toFlorid•irds-L populationwas "serious- Oneadult with afledgling while ly impacted"by Andrew Lee Iona 6•y 1994 • theother adult was incubating Pranty 1994 but had recoveredby anapparent second brood spring1995. The Clewis- Miami-DadeCoconutGrove Jun2005 BuildingsignageOccupied nest S.BenedettotoBrdBrain ton populationhas per- Miami-DadeCoralGables Mar2003 Blackolive Occupiednest R.Diaz inlitt. sistedfor 20 years(Table 1), and it representsthe Miami-DadeHialeah 1982 BuildingsignageOccupiednest L.Manfrediinlitt. most persistentpopula- Miami-DadeHialeah Spring1985 BuildingsignageOccupiednest Kale1985 tion outside of Miami- MJami-DadeHomestead 22 May 1985 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Kale1985, Stevenson andAnderson 1994 Dade. Miami-DadeKendall 31•y-2 Jun2002 Buildingsignage Nest with >_3 nestlings Figure6 Breedin Miami-DadeMiamiShores 2003 Lightpole cavity Occupied nest A.Harper toBirdBoard observations Miami-DadeMiami Shores Jul 2004 lightpole cavity Occupied nest A.Harper toBirdBoard Common Mynas have Miami-DadeMiamiShores 13Aug2005 • Pairwith one juvenile A.Harper toBirdBoard beenbreeding in Florida Miami-DadePenine annually1995-2006 Building signage Occupied nests T.Mitchellto BirdBoard since1982, and breeding Miami-DadePinecrest Ughtpole cavity Occupied nest LManfredJto BirdBoard reports exist from 13 counties. Each of the Miami-DadeWestwood Lake ca. 1999 Buildingsignage Occupied nest S.Paez inlitt. temporalperiods listed Miami-DadeWestKendall 10 Apr 2004 Buildingsignage Occupied nest P.Bithorn toBirdBoard above documents an in- Monroe Islamorada17Aug2002 Lightpole cavity Nest with nestlings L •nfredito FloridaBirds-L creasingnumber of coun- Monroe KeyWest 26Jun2000 Powerpolecavity Occupied nest Pranty2001c ties in which breeding Monroe KeyWest 24Mar2001 Powerpolecavity Occupied nest Pranty2001d has occurred, from six Monroe KeyWest 31Jul 2001 ? Pairand 5juveniles Pranty2002c during1982-1990, eight during 1991-1999, and PalmBeach Tequesta? 8 May 1988 ? Pairfeeding young Langridge1988,Stevenson andAnderson 1994 11 during 2000-2007. I St.Lucie FortPierce 11May 1997 Buildingsignage Nest with 2nestlings Pranty1997 havecompiled a listof 42 St.Lucie FortPierce May1998 Buildingsignage Occupied nest Pranty1998 observationsof breeding St.Lucie FortPierce 1999 Buildingsignage Occupied nest J.Brooks inlitt. by CommonMynas in SeminoleSanford 24-31Mar 2002 Signpole cavity Occupied nest Pranty2002d; M.Wilson toFloridabirds-L Florida(Table 3), repre- sentingnest-building activities (2), active cuplednests, where one or both adults was havebeen placed inartificial structures (Table nests(33), or fledged young or juveniles (5). seento enter a cavityinto which material had 3). Somemyna nests were located in cavities Becausemost nests are placed in cavitiesor beenplaced. Except for one nest in Miami- inutility poles or niches instreet lights while niches,few eggs or nestlings have been ob- Dadethat was placed inthe crotch ofa Black otherswere built within letters of logos at- served.Most breeding observations areof oc- Olive(Bucida buceras), allnests in Floridatached tocommercial buildings (e.g., Figures

VOLUME61 (2007) NUMBER4 663 JSTATUSANDDISTRIBUTION OFCOMMON MYNA IN FLORIDA

6 and 7). Active nestswith known substrates veys(J. Boyd,in litt.). This paperwould not donot considerthe mynato representa sen- (n=34) representedbuilding signage(22; existwithout the dozens of observationspost- ousthreat to nativespecies or ecosystemsor 64%),cavity in woodenutility pole (6; 17%), edto thethree primary online birding lists in to human health or commerce in the state. nichein streetlight (5; 14%),and tree (1; 2%; Florida--especiallythe Miami BirdBoard. Ob- Numbersof mynason the DadeCounty Table3). The temporaldistribution of active serverbias may influence.the numberof C.B.C.have ranged from 5 to 39 birdssince nests in Florida with known dates (n=17) myna reports in Miami-Daderelative to the 95th countperiod, excepting the 84 my- rangesfrom 24 Marchto 17August, with one Browardor PalmBeach, which each have very nastallied during the 105thC.B.C. (Table 2) potentiallyanomalous active nest (video- few residentbirders; 72% (120 of 167) of the This single figure greatly influencedthe taped;pets. obs.) on 12November (Figure 5). observations in these three counties are from C.B.C.results during the 105thcount period Most nests (9 of 17; 52%) were active from Miami-Dade.Despite this potential geograph- (Figure4). The numbersof mynasreported earlyMay throughlate June, while all nests icalbias, the temporalpattern of mynaex- on the 10 C.B.C. circles outside of Miam•- but onewere active from late Marchthrough pansionis well documented.With the excep- Dade are far more consistent: 0 dur- late August(Figure 5). Double-broodinghas tion of CocoaBeach, which was colonizedin ing1982-1990,2-11 during1991-1999, and beenobserved once in Florida(Pranty 1994, 1987, all sitesnorth of Lake Okeechobeehave 11-27during 2000-2006 (Table 2). Although Table3) but likelyoccurs often (and perhaps been colonizedsince 1997, most since2000 C.B.C.data are valuablein documentingthe regularly);three broods are raised annually in (Table1, Figure2). Mynasobserved far from long-termtrend in the CommonMyna popu- the countries of the former Soviet Union theircore range were reported at Sanfordin lationin southernFlorida (Figure 4), short- (Kannanand James2001). A much larger 1999,DeLand in 2000,Sapdo lsland, Georgia termtrends may be biased by thenumbers of sampleof CommonMyna nests from Florida in 2002,Jacksonville in 2004, Lake Apopka in mynasobserved or overlookedfrom one or undoubtedlywill clarifythe primary breeding 2005,and along the centralGulf coast begin- two key C.B.C. circles.Unfortunately, the seasonand the average number of broodspro- ning in 2005. RoyalPalm-Homestead C.B.C. was discontin- ducedannually by eachbreeding pair. Bates and Busenbark (1970) claimed that ued in December2002; this C.B.C. circle importationof anyspecies of Acridotheres into wouldhave included the recentlydiscovered ChristmasBird CountTrends the UnitedStates was illegal. If correct,then Florida City roost. Even if the declinein CommonMynas have been reported on 12 this restriction must have been lifted at some CommonMyna numbersduring the two Christmas Bird Counts in Florida since the point--the Floridapopulation had to have mostrecent C.B.C. periods (Figure 4) is accu- 84th C.B.C.period (1983-1984). They have begunfrom birds intentionally imported into rate,C.B.C. data clearly show that numbers of been seen on nearly every Dade County thestate and that then either escaped or were mynasobserved per C.B.C.party-hour since C.B.C.(Miami-Dade) since the 84th countpe- released.Small (1994, in Kannanand James the98th period (9.51, range 5.1-23.5) has in- riod and on all but one West Palm Beach 2001) statedthat CommonMynas were one creasedmore than 1300%over myna num- C.B.C.(Palm Beach) since the 92nd count pe- of the mostfrequendy observed exotic birds bersper party-hour for the previous 15 C.B.C riod (Table 2). The number of Florida counts in California.During November 2007, sever- periods(0.71, range0-1.8). Graphedby the with CommonMynas has increased from one al onlinevendors, including three in Florida, threetemporal periods used elsewhere in this throughthe 1980sto four or five countsan- offeredto sellCommon Mynas at pricesrang- paper,the numbersof mynasobserved in nuallyin recentyears (Table 2). An analysisof ing between $200-500 each (e.g., Floridaper 1000 C.B.C.party-hours are 0.31 CommonMynas reported on Floridacounts ). Despite their (range0-1.4) during1982-1990, 2.23 (range perparty-hour (Figure 4) yieldsinteresting-- presencein aviculture,Common Mynas can- 0.4-6.5) during1991-1999, and 10.36 (range and perhapsmisleading--results. After re- not possiblyescape so frequentlyas to drive (5.1-23.5)during 2000-2007. mainingrelatively stable at 0-2 mynasper the patternof numbersand distributionin The rangeof CommonMynas in Florida•s 1000hours during their first 13 C.B.C.peri- Florida(Figures 2-4). I believethat the in- extensiveand increasing, encompassing parts ods (84th-96th),the numberof mynasin- creasein the CommonMyna populationin of 18 countiessince 2000 (Figure 2). A mini- creasedsteadily and perhapsexponentially Floridaover the past 20+ years is largelyif not mumconvex polygon drawn around the bulk over the next nine count periods exclusivelythe resultof successfulbreeding of recentmyna observations in Broward, Mia- (97th-105th)to peakat 24 mynasper 1000 of birdsoutside of captivity mi-Dade,and PalmBeach approaches 1760 party-hoursduring the 105thperiod (Figure Thereis a reportof CommonMynas evict- km2 ofmostly suitable habitats (Figure 3) 4). Themyna population then appears to de- ingPurple Martins (Progne subis) from a mar- Althoughthe unpredictablehistory of exotic clinedramatically to 5 mynasper 1000party- tin house somewhere in Florida in the mid- or bird populationsin Florida (e.g., Pranty hoursby the 107thcount period (Figure 4). late 1980s (Neville 1988, 1992), but this re- 2001a, 2002a) should make one hesitant portis seeminglythe only such observation in aboutpredicting the long-term trends of par- Discussion thestate. In fact,I amnot awareof anotherob- ticular species,at the presenttime, there Littleinformation has appeared in the litera- servationdescribing Common Mynas inter- seemslittle reason to doubtthat range expan- tureon CommonMynas in Florida.Between actingwith any native species in Florida.Else- sionof CommonMynas in Floridawill con- 1984 and 1999, only 14 observationswere where,Common Mynas have been lauded as tinue.In January2008, the FloridaOrnitho- publishedin AmericanBirds, with nine of agentsfor seed-dispersal,pollination, and in- logical SocietyRecords Committee voted theseduring 1984-1987. An overalldisinter- sectcontrol, and blamed for depredating crops unanimouslyto acceptthe CommonMyna as est in "uncountable"exotics by birdersand andthe eggs and young of otherbirds, and for an establishedexotic species (A.W. Kratter, ornithologistshas played a primaryrole in the beinga nuisancein urbanareas (Kannan and pets.comm.). scarcityof publishedreports. Traffic conges- James2001). The CommonMyna's habitat tton in the Miami metropolitanarea has also preferencesin Floridaexclude contact with Acknowledgments playeda rolein thelack of formalmyna sur- mostnative species and agriculturalareas; 1 I thankall who directlyor indirectlysubmit-

664 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS STATUSANli-DI-STRIBUTION-i)F COMMONMYNA INFLORIDA

ted their mynaobservations, especially John Floridaregion [Spring 1988 report]ß Amer- ralist 30: ]43-]50. Boyd, Robin Diaz, and Larry Manfredi. I ican Birds 42: 424-426. --. 2004a.Field observations spring report: thank E William Smith and Larry Manfredi Lever,C. 1987.Naturalized Birds of the Worldß March-May2004. FloridaField Naturalist for attemptingto setup formalmyna surveys LongmanScientific and Technical,New 32: 153-162. in Floridain the past.Gift Beatonprovided Yorkß --. 2004b. Field observationsfall report: informauonabout the SapeloIsland myna. Long,J. L. 1981.Introduced Birds of the Worldß August-November2003. Florida Field Nat- The manuscriptwas improved by comments ReedProprietary, . uralist 32: 63-74. fromBruce Anderson, Mark Berney,and Jon NationalAudubon Society [N.A.S.]. 2007ß . 2007a. Field observationsfall report: Greenlaw. The Christmas Bird Count database August-November2006. Florida Field Nat- . Accessed 26 uralist 35: 60-72. Literature cited November 2007ß ß 2007b. Field observationsspring re- AmericanOrnithologists' Union [A.O.U.]. Neville,B. 1988ßAfield guide to the exotic avi- port:March-May 2007. Florida Field Natu- 1998. TheA•nerican Ornithologists' Unionk faunaof DadeCountyß Manuscriptß ralist35: in press. Check-listof North American Birds. Seventh Neville, B. 1992. CommonMyna accountß Robertson, W. B., and G. E. Woolfenden. edition.American Ornithologists' Union, TheAtlas of the Breeding Birds of Florida (H. 1992. FloridaBird Species:An Annotated Washington,D.C. W. Kale,B. Pranty,B. M. Stith,and C. W. List.Florida Ornithological Society Special Atherton,L. S., andB. H. Atherton.1987. The Biggs, eds.). PublicationNo. 6, Gainesville. fallmigration: Florida region [Fall 1986 re- _ Ac- Small,A_ 1994.California Birds: Their Status port].American Birds 41: 76-80. cessed 11 December 2007. and Distribution.Ibis Publishing,Vista, Bates,H.J., and R. L. Busenbark.1970. Finch- Pranty,B. 1994.Field observations spring re- California. esand Soft-billed Birds. TFH Publications, port:March-May 1994ß Florida Field Natu- Stevenson,H. M., and B. H. Anderson. 1994. NeptuneCity, New Jersey. ralist 22: 118-126. TheBirdlife of Florida.University Press of Beaton,G., E W. Sykes,and J. W. Parrish. ---. 1995ßField observations spring report: Florida, Gainesville. 2003.Annotated Checklist of GeorgiaBirds. March-May1995 FloridaField Naturalist TropicalAudubon Society [T.A.S.]. 2007. Mi- GeorgiaOrnithological Society Occasional 23: 99-108ß ami Bird Boardarchives. BrdBrainarchives. 2007. Universityof South port:June-July 1995ß Florida Field Natural- ßAccessed 8 October 2007. Florida,Tampa. . Accessed 17 ß1997. Field observations spring report: October 2007. March-May1997_ Florida Field Naturalist Cohrs,D. 2002. SapdoIsland sighting. Post 25: 148-158. to GeorgiaBirders Online .Accessed 8 Novem- 26: 128-137. ber 2007. ß1999ß Field observations spring report: Cooper,A.M., compiler.1995. Dade County, March-May1999ß Florida Field Naturalist FL (95th Christmas Bird Count). Field 27: 182-193ß Notes 49: 541-542. ß2001a. The Budgerigarin Florida:Rise Davis,R. 2002. The springmigration: South- andfall of an exoticpsittacid. North Amer- ernAtlantic Coast region [Spring 2002 re- ican Birds 55: 389-397ß port[.Nortlt American Birds 56: 296-298. . 200lb. Field observationsfall report: Feare,C., and A. Craig.1998. and August-November2000. Florida Field Nat- COH CTIO Mynas.Helm, London. uralist 29: 60-74. FloridaBirds-Larchives. 2007. Universityof --. 2001c. Field observations summer re- The ABA's online Florida,Gainesville. .Ac- ist 29: 33-40. to travel. companies cessed 8 October 2007. --. 2001d. Fieldobservations spring report: and destinations Kale.H.W. 1985.The springmigration: Flori- March-May2001ß Florida Field Naturalist as wel.l.as birding da region[Spring 1985 report[.American 29: 130-141. products and Birds 39: 288-291. --. 2002a. The use of Christmas Bird equipment. Kale,H. W..,B. Pranty,B. M. Stith,and C. W. Countdata to monitorpopulations of exot- Biggs.1992. The Atlas of theBreeding Birds ic birdsß American Birds 56: 24-28. For rates and information, go to the ABA website at of Florida.. --. 2002b. Field observationsfall report: www.aba.o rg/netcon nectJo ns Accessed 11 November 2007. August-November2001. Florida Field Nat- Kannan,R., and D.A. James.2001. Common uralist 30: 65-76ß Myna (Acridotherestristis). The Birdsof --. 2002c. Field observations summer re- , No. 583 (A. Poole and E port:June-July 2001. Florida Field Natural- Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, ist 30: 11-19ß Arnei•i•ai'•Birding Inc.,Washington, D.C. --. 2002d. Field observationsspring re- Langridge,H. E 1988.The springmigraion: port:March-May 2002ß Florida Field Natu- www. aba.org

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