White-vented Myna (Acridotheres Grandis)
Order: PASSERIFORMES
Family: STURNIDAE Starlings, Mynas
Scientific name: Acridotheres Grandis
English name: White-vented Myna
Characteristic: Size 25 cm. A medium-sized all black bird with white wing patches, lower tail coverts and tail tip; a conspicuous black crest at its forehead, bringht yellow bill and legs.
Distribution: India , Bangladesh, Southern China in the Provinces of Yunnan and Kwang Si, Myanmar and Thailand. In this country, it occurs everywhere except in the south from Prachuap Khiri Khan Province southwards.
Habitat: Open forest, clearings near water bodies, more in suburban area, in crop fields and paddy fields than in towns and villages. In Sakaerat forest, this myna keeps to grass fields in dry dipterocarp forest.
Habit: Rather tame, and quite familiar with human; seen walking on the ground and the lawns, mostly in flocks of 10-30 birds. Its favourite foods consist of worms, insects, earthworms that hiding among grasses, tussocks and in earthen cracks, notably the grasshoppers; additionnally it will devour rice grain, plant seeds, fallen fruits and sip nectar from flowers, In nightfall, a hugh concentration of them will occupy at specific roosting site deafening the air with their loud chattering for roosts. Often observed to perch on the cattle' s backs, waiting for comings of its preys of annoying insects. Breeding starts from February to July; a nest is built in a tree cavity and a clutch of 2-6 blue eggs will be deposited. The incubation period is about 20 days.
Status: A common resident. Also protected as a protected wild animal.
