-by Mary Rue-
For years when I mention that I have mynahs, I have heard something to the effect of, THOSE DIRTY OLD BLACK BIRDS. I have never been able to figure out how they have earned that reputation. For over 20 years, I have owned mynahs. I will agree they do have plentiful amount of soft stools, especially when they are maintained on a soft diet, but so do parrots who are on diets high in fruits and vegetables. I also agree that when they are eating a large chunk of food, they tend to beat it on the perch and shake their heads to break it into a size that they can eat easier with their pointed beak, and this sometimes may get on the wall near the cage. But this to me does not constitute that they are dirty birds by my definition. When I walk up to a cage of cockatiels, parakeets, or canaries I see seed hulls around the the cage on the floor for quite a large radius. On the other hand, when I go up to a mynah cage I see a clean floor and sometimes a couple pieces of food on the wall behind the cage. I also have cockatiels, I am used to vacuuming around the cage and five minutes later it will look like I have not vacuumed for days. The same goes for the parakeets and canaries I own. The only difference between the three is that cockatiels also produce a feather powder. Every time a cockatiel opens up his wings to exercise and flap them, they appear to be in a cloud of dust, which eventually will settle on your furniture. I really get a big laugh when someone comes to visit and I spent all morning vacuuming up the seed hulls and feather dust from the cockatiels (and it never looks like I did it 5 minutes later) and looks at the mynahs, who have no seed hulls around the floor of their cages, and say, "Oh, mynahs are such dirty birds!". My mynahs are fed a combination diet consisting of fruits, vegetables and mynah pellets. All this soft food does eventually end up on the floor of the cage in large stools. If you clean your mynahs cage daily, you will have no problem. I have put several layers of newspapers separated by waxed paper in the bottom of the cages. This way I can lift out a layer a couple of times a day and have fresh clean papers below. If left for more than a day, a mynah cage can begin to smell. Mynahs are highly intelligent birds. They are also highly skilled talkers. When a mynah speaks, it speaks very clear, unlike some birds that talk more muffled, such as cockatiels. My first mynah had a vocabulary of over 150 words. He also spoke in sentences. Not all mynahs develop large vocabularies. Some are not as talented in talking as others. I have found that the domestic, hand raised mynahs are the best talkers. Mynahs also master the art of repeating sounds they hear. They mimic a ringing phone, electronic door bells, timers, fire sirens, chimes, and more. They can also learn new words which they have only heard once. I have found the words that they seem to pick up the fastest are the words you would rather they didn't know. I hope by this article I have cleared up the myths about mynahs being DIRTY BIRDS. In The Magnificent Mynah - Part 2: Jiggers Story, I will get into the personalities of these magnificent birds. The Magnificent Mynah Part Two: Jigger's Story -by Mary Rue- My brother-in-law asked me to care for their family mynah bird for the summer while they were gone. I said yes and my mother was not thrilled. When they returned in the fall, they decided it would be difficult for them to keep him, due to commitments to their family business. Also, I had spoiled him and had become quite attached to him. He was already about 10 years old. I think mynahs are highly intelligent birds. My first mynah, Jigger, and every one since has convinced me of that. Even though Jigger was about 10 years old when I got him, he still learned more words to add to his vocabulary which was at least 150 words or more. Jigger was a domestic bred, hand raised baby when my brother purchased him. Jigger's cage was near a window. He enjoyed looking outside throughout the day. Whenever he saw my dad's car coming down the street, he would yell, "Daddy's home". Even when my Dad had a different car, he knew who it was and yelled. I say mynahs are smart, because how did Jigger know that the car coming was my Dad's? We had alot of cars use our street all day long. No matter what time of day it was, he knew when one was my dad's. Jigger always liked to watch the dogs. He would yell "Bad dog". We started checking out what the dogs were doing when he yelled, to our amazement, they were into something they should not be into. It takes a bit of intelligence to be a tattletale. I'll never understand how he knew that what the dogs were doing was right or wrong but Jigger was always correct in his reports. Even though my mother professed not to like Jigger, she would slip him treats all the time. She called him a "DIRTY OLD BLACK BIRD" and even found a bumper sticker that said it and put it on his cage. When anyone asked Jigger what his name was, he would respond "Jigger", sometimes he would add "I'm a dirty old black bird". Our house was a tri-level. From where Jiggers cage was, he could just barely see the kitchen table. In spite of that, every night at dinner as soon as my mother would put the meat on the table, he would yell, "Time to eat!". He said this in my mother's voice, so we all came running. Sometimes he was ahead of my mother and we would have to wait. Once around 2 a.m., Jigger began to yell, "Help! Help! Stop! Bad!" Our bedrooms were upstairs. My mom was soon at my door saying "Black bird pie!" I guess she was not pleased with Jigger's outbursts. I went downstairs to see what his problem was. He was looking out of the window at a car full of teens drinking, parked in front of our house. Not one of the many dogs we had barked even once, to warn us. Jigger received a reprieve from my mom, who was not pleased that a dirty old mynah bird show up our dogs at protecting the house. Every night, Jigger would begin to yell for his bag when he got tired. He slept in a paper bag every night. I had to give him a clean one every night, because he would mess on his the first thing every morning. I would find him sleeping on his back in the bag at times. Every morning he would greet each member of the family with their own personal greeting. No matter what order we got up in, we all received our own greeting. One morning, my mom yelled up to me that Jigger had not greeted her and I had better check him. I came right down and discovered him dead in his bag. He had just gotten over a cold, we thought, but the cause of death was secondary infection from the cold. I have had
several mynahs since Jigger, but none of them have had his gift of
speech. They have all been just as smart. I have one now
that may come close. She is a domestic, hand fed about 2 years
old. Jigger learned all his life. If she does, she could
develop his gift of gab These articles were also in the Mynah
Leagues Newsletter in
1996 The
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