Today whilst wandering around the Esplanade I came across an unusual looking Common Myna (Sturnus tristis) with plenty of bare skin on its face. This is not the first Common Myna I have encountered with this feather loss problem, some even having no feathers on the head at all. Oddly, Cairns is the only place where I have observed mynas with any such problem. I have never seen this down south in the Sydney to Wollongong area. Is this a disease unique to the tropics?
Another peculiar birding encounter today was watching two Yellow Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus flavus) diving into a drainage channel for prey near the Cairns Central Swamp on Gatton St. I have never observed any honeyeater behaving like this before. Although the birds were not ‘diving’ as such, they were slamming into the water with some force. I didn’t see the suspected prey, I can’t even be sure that it was prey the birds were pursuing. Perhaps these birds were diving in to simply wet themselves in the heat of the day?
In other news, I plan to have the review of Birder’s Diary up in under a week!
