Entry 22
Tuesday 14th June 2022
11:23am

I just got back from a walk and saw only one interesting bird-related thing, which was a bit morbid if I’m going to be honest. I saw the scattered remains of a dead bird on the way to the library. There were mostly feathers all around the grass and the footpath that were small, black and white. The feathers weren’t big enough to belong to a Mapie, so I thought maybe it was a Magpie-lark or a Pied Butcherbird. I also saw a bright red, blood covered internal organ of some kind (could have just been flesh to be honest), and then I eventually found the birds decapitated head. I immediately identified it as an Indian Mynah, but since I wasn’t 100% sure, I took a picture of it in order to do some research when I got back home (yes, I know, it’s gross. But it was in the name of bird identification and uhh science I guess).

My on-the-spot identification turned out to be accurate, and my mum had a look at it as well. She thinks that because the bird head and the blood red internal organ was freshly covered in bright red blood, that the bird had been killed probably only 1 hour before I had discovered the Mynah. I agree with her. I also think that based on the way the bird had been killed and torn apart, that it was likely a cat that killed it. Birds of prey do not usually decapitate their kills to my knowledge, though they do pluck feathers from any birds they have killed. However, cats do sometimes decapitate their prey, and I’ve seen my nextdoor neighbour’s cat Jerry make a mess of feathers with birds that he’s killed before, so it is very likely a cat that killed the Indian Mynah.

The Indian Mynah is an invasive species in Australia, so as sad as it seems, it’s better for the environment and our ecosystem in Australia that this bird is dead. Unfortunately, though, cats themselves are also not great for our environment, and are a significantly more serious threat than any invasive bird could ever be. Cats will also target any animal, invasive or native. So, hopefully the cat that killed this bird is captured and either returned to their owners (who keep the bloody cat inside for once), or if it is a stray, humanely euthanised.

Outdoor, stray and feral cats are destroying our ecosystem at alarming rates because they are such good killers, who will kill for fun and not bother eating most of the stuff they kill. Cats in Australia kill about 83 million native reptiles and 80 million native birds EACH YEAR. Our ecosystem is fragile enough as it is, especially after the 2020 fires which killed over a billion animals within only a few MONTHS, extincted a few species, and caused many of our animals to become critically endangered almost overnight. We just CANNOT continue to allow out pet cats outside without strict supervision (such as being on a leash), and cull any and all suspected feral and stray cats. Our ecosystem will cease to exist otherwise, and our extremely unique animals will be lost to time.

Text on right reads: "Indian Mynah, an introduce species that originated in Asia."

Text on left reads: "The yellow under the eye is a patch of featherless skin".

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