Birds and the rules in Brisbane
Native birds are protected
Brisbane City Council says every native species has legal protection under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992, and harming one in any way is a serious offence.
Mynas in the roof
The common myna lives along Australia's east and south-east coasts. The Australian Museum says its favourite nest sites are inside the walls and ceilings of buildings, with roof voids used as group roosts, and it breeds from October to March.
Not protected, not declared
City of Moreton Bay says the myna has naturalised and isn't a prohibited or restricted invasive animal under Queensland's Biosecurity Act 2014. So nobody is required to control it, but nothing stops you keeping it out.
The council's own tip
City of Moreton Bay suggests covering any holes in the roof and guttering so mynas can't nest there, and not leaving scraps out for birds to scavenge.
Myna, or a native look-alike?
The common myna is 23 to 26 cm long, brown with a black head, with a yellow bill, yellow legs and a patch of bare yellow skin around the eye. In flight it flashes large white patches on its wings.
Don't mix it up with the native noisy miner, a grey bird with a similar yellow bill and eye patch. Noisy miners, magpies, lorikeets and every other native bird are protected, so a nest of theirs on the house is a conversation with the pest business about what's allowed, not a job to rush.
What bird proofing usually involves
First an inspection: where the birds get in or roost, whether any nest is active, and which bird it is. Then the fix to suit: mesh or covers over gaps in the roof, eaves and gutters, wires or spikes on ledges where pigeons sit, and netting or skirts around solar panels, followed by cleaning out nesting material and droppings.
In Queensland, pest birds are an extra endorsement on a pest management licence, so it's fair to ask whether the business holds it. The job grows with height, roof access, the number of gaps, and how much nesting material has built up in the roof space.
What you can do now
You can
- Stop any feeding, and keep pet food and bins covered.
- Watch where the birds go in and out, and photograph the gaps from the ground.
- Note whether there's chirping inside the roof, which suggests chicks.
- Clear fallen nesting material from gutters you can reach from the ground.
Leave to a pest business
- Anything on the roof, around solar panels or at height.
- Taking old nests out of the roof space and cleaning up droppings.
- Fitting mesh, spikes or netting so it lasts and doesn't block gutters.
Questions for the pest business
- Which bird is it, and is it native?
- Is there an active nest, and what does that change about timing?
- Do you hold the pest birds endorsement on your Queensland licence?
- Will the mesh let water and leaves run off the gutters?
- How will the droppings and old nesting material be cleaned up?
Where we'd start with bird control and proofing in Brisbane
Work out which bird it is before anything else. If it's mynas or pigeons, we'd get the gaps and ledges proofed outside the breeding months if we could; tap Possum or birds and say where they are.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
