Javan Mynas foraging for chicks in the nest

On the morning of 4th October 2017 as I was at my compost heap, an adult Javan Myna (Acridotheres javanicus) dropped part of an egg shell from above – see also HERE. What this meant was that there was a nesting nearby.

In an effort to calculate when I should expect to encounter one or more begging fledgling following a pair of adults in my garden, I looked up my reference books for the number of days from hatching to fledging for this myna. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there are limited breeding information available. Only the incubation period is available: 13-14 days. No information on how many days it takes for the chicks to fledge after hatching. Such a common bird and we still do not know much about its breeding behaviour!

Adult Javan Myna with food in its bill about to fly off.

I will have to wait until I hear the begging cries of the recently fledged juveniles in my garden and then calculate the number of days from hatching to fledging. In the meantime, the adults are actively foraging to feed the hungry chicks.

Their favourite forging area is my compost heap. Whenever I am working there, the adults will fly in to forage, even when I was around. There are plenty of compost fauna for the hungry mynas and their chicks (see video below).

One thing I noticed was that the adults gave priority to the hungry chicks before they themselves started feeding. Both adults gathered worms in their bill and flew off, to return soon. This they did a few times before they themselves started feeding.

A few days later I noticed that the adults were bringing food to the nest lodged under the roof of my neighbour’s house. The adults were caught on video entering the space under the rood (above) and although feeding could not be seen, the excitement of the chicks could clearly be heard on video (below).