Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa)
Order: PASSERIFORMES
Family: STURNIDAE Starlings, Mynas
Scientific name: Gracula religiosa
English name: Hill Myna
Characteristic: Size 30 cm. Glossy black all over, except a distinct small white wing patch. Facial wattles bright yellow and meet each other at nape. Bill large, orange-red; legs and feet yellow.
Distribution: India, Southern China, throughout SE Asia and Sunda Islands.
Habitat: Dipterocarp forest, ecotone between the dipterocarp and dry evergreen forest, including the secondary growth.
Habit: Mostly seen perching high on dry tree tops. Keeps in flocks outside the breeding season that noisily searching for wild fruits, insects and nectar among the tree canopy. Breeding between February-August in high hollow tree, in which 2-3 eggs are laid; the incubation lasts for 20 days.
Status: A resident. This bird is a very popular cage bird for its astonishing ability to imitate human words, thus resulting in heavy poaching to supply the market that eventually diminishing local population. At Sakaerat, frequently seen in the dipterocarp forest flanking the road to the station.
