Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Crested Myna

Just like the bird on my last post, the crested myna is a bird we saw in Portugal with Barnardo Barreto of Birds & Nature in June 2022, except this bird was in the Tagus Estuary. Like the crested cardinal (which was introduced to Hawaii from Brazil), a recent post, the crested myna was introduced from somewhere else. In this case the crested myna is from southern China and northern Indochina. In fact, it is also known as the Chinese starling. Wikipedia notes that as "a popular cage bird, it is often transported outside of its normal range and...accidentally released and introduced in a new area." It was "discovered breeding around Lisbon, Portugal in 1997. They are now established on both sides of the Tagus estuary to the west of Lisbon and also on the Setubal Peninsula." I was not able to get a photo of it. 
Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Note, it does not include the areas where it has been introduced, like Portugal. 

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