Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

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Michael Szabo
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby Michael Szabo » Sun Nov 10, 2019 2:35 pm

There are clearly good reasons to remove invasive species before they establish. It is also far cheaper to remove one bird as in this instance with RVB. The only real option at the moment for Common Myna is localised pest control using Myna traps. Some people shoot them but the remaining birds wise up quite quickly so trapping is a better approach.
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rukuhia
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby rukuhia » Sun Nov 10, 2019 5:49 pm

IMG_4615.JPG
IMG_4615.JPG (218.19 KiB) Viewed 1906 times
I could not relocate the bird today in the wind and rain, ironically the only birds in the tree were indian mynas.
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Michael Szabo
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby Michael Szabo » Sun Nov 10, 2019 9:24 pm

That's a photo of a Red-vented Bulbul, not a Common Myna.
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rukuhia
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby rukuhia » Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:26 am

That’s right. The photo is from the day before.
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby Clinton9 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:11 pm

This one Red-vented bulbul have 8 months of life before winter weather will kill it, if it become cunning and avoid MAF.
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby Joanna10 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:05 pm

MPI phoned me on Monday and said they have been after this bird for 5 months. So that suggests it had no problem with winter in Auckland. There was a 2nd bird but it was dispatched some time ago. I'm glad about that.
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Re: Red-vented Bulbul - Dove-Myer Robinson Park, Parnell

Postby Jim Kirker » Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:05 pm

Where is the evidence that RVB is a serious threat to NZ natives ? The Thibault paper linked to above suggests that "temporal trends in the abundance of impacted species suggest that the Red-vented bulbul may cause niche contractions rather than mortality for native species in man-modified habitats". I would prefer to see effort put into niche expansions favorable to natives in man-modified habitats by conservation of existing bush and wetlands and restoration. The evidence as I read it is that RVBs are invasive and threatening to natives mainly in "man-modified habitats". There may be economic downsides to crops and orchards, but how many natives currently thrive in these - apart from spur-winged plovers and white-faced herons on dairy pasture and silver-eyes in orchards ?
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Michael Szabo
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The invasive Red-vented bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) outcompetes native birds in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Postby Michael Szabo » Thu Nov 14, 2019 8:38 am

Thibault M, Vidal E, Potter MA, Sanchez T, Brescia F (2018) PLoS ONE 13(2)
Link: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0192249

"Our results revealed a negative relationship between the occurrence of the bulbul and the mean abundance of nine species, all native (or endemic, n = 3) to the New Caledonia archipelago. In contrast, the abundance of other introduced species such as Acridotheres tristis (Common myna), Passer domesticus (House sparrow) and Spilopelia chinensis (Spotted dove) were not affected by the Red-vented bulbul. Moreover, temporal trends in the abundance of impacted species suggest that the Red-vented bulbul may cause niche contractions rather than mortality for native species in man-modified habitats. Monitoring and control of the Red-vented bulbul is recommended to prevent on-going impacts on native bird communities throughout New Caledonia, and its impact on native bird communities elsewhere should be quantified."

When there are just a few individual birds it makes sense to err on the side of caution and remove them before they establish. We know they are not naturally part of the NZ avifauna and that they adversely impact native bird communities in New Caledonia.

The Hawaii Invasive Species Council describes RVB as an agricultural pest that does US$300,000 in damage to orchids per year on Oahu:
https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invas ... ed-bulbul/
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