Sturnidae

Common Myna

Acridotheres tristis

Bold, talkative and full of personality — usually the first bird a guest notices, and the last to fall quiet at dusk.

Seen atKunja ·Jageshwar ·Barechhina ·Ranikhet

Opens recordings on xeno-canto, the open bird-sound archive.

Stay in the The Myna Room In the Lap of Nature

What the hills call it

Sutui

/ soo·tu·i /सूटइ

KumaoniBird

Common Myna — Bold, talkative and full of personality — usually the first bird a guest notices, and the last to fall quiet at dusk.

Field notes

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sturnidae · Starlings & mynas
Genus: Acridotheres
Length: 23–26 cm
Weight: 82–143 g
At Kunja: Resident — here all year round
Conservation: Least Concern

How to know it

A chocolate-brown body with a glossy black head and breast, a bright yellow bill and legs, and a bare patch of yellow skin behind the eye. A white wing-flash and white tail-tip show the moment it flies.

What it eats

An omnivore and an opportunist — insects, grubs and worms, fruit, grain and nectar, and around a village whatever the kitchen and the cattle leave behind. It will follow a plough or a grazing cow for the insects they stir up.

Where & when to spot it

Everywhere people are — the courtyard, the rooftops, the wires, the cattle shed and the fields. Bold, loud and tame, it is hard to miss from first light to last.

Nesting & mating

Nests in a hole — a wall cavity, a roof space, a hollow in a tree — lined with grass, leaves, feathers and the odd scrap of plastic. Mynas pair for life, defend their patch fiercely, and raise two or three broods of four to six eggs a year.

In the field

When we’ve seen it

Most often photographed in March and December, usually in the middle of the day. That makes spring and winter the clearest windows to spot it around the homestay.

Spotting tip: head out in the middle of the day, walk slowly and stop often, and listen as much as you look — most of these birds call before they show themselves.

In the lens