Noisy Miner

Manorina melanocephala

Family: Meliphagidae (Honeyeaters, 74 species in Australia)
Size: 24-28 cm
Distribution: Within about 1000 km of the east coast of Australia, except the northern tip of QLD. Almost all of VIC and most of TAS. A small part of southeastern SA.
Status: Common
Habitat: Woodlands, suburbs
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The noisy miner is a very common bird in much of the parts of Australia where it is found. It is a native to Australia unlike the common or "Indian" myna. It is loud and agressive to other birds. It is usually much more shy around people than the common myna.

The beak and feet of the noisy miner are dark yellow with a small, dark yellow patch behind the eye.

Noisy Miner - Manorina melanocephala
Photo: Lake Parramatta, NSW.

Noisy Miner - Manorina melanocephala
Photo: Watsons Bay, NSW.

Noisy Miner - Manorina melanocephala
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

I made the drawing below as part of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. It is not meant to be artistic or even particuluarly technically correct. The main purpose of drawing in the course is that it is a great aid to learning the identifying details of what you are drawing.

Noisy Miner - Manorina melanocephala
The above photo shows my drawing of the noisy miner from the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. High resolution (1749 x 2434)

Some Birdwatching Resources

NEW: Field Guide to Australian Birds, by Michael Morcombe. This one has colour drawings of the eggs and the nests which not many other field guides do (I can't think of any that do). It's an excellent field guide and one of the four main ones (the other three being above this one). The weakness of this field guide is that some of the pictures of the birds aren't as good (or accurate) as the other three most used field guides. It's also the heaviest though there is a pocket edition which is much smaller and lighter.

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Nicolas Day, Ken Simpson, Peter Trusler.This is known to birdwatchers as "Simpson and Day". I like the pictures in this one the best out of all the major field guides. The information is still very highly regarded compared to most of the other guides. Many serious birdwatchers think "Pizzey and Knight" (listed here) is the best though. I bought this one since I liked the pictures so much I figured (correctly) that I would spend more time looking through it. I feel that I made the right choice since I love the pictures in this one so much. I have the 6th edition, the current one is the updated version of the 8th edition, which has a different colour cover to the original 8th edition with a black cover. I'm not sure why they haven't called this the 9th edition.

Purchase 8th ed. updated from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase 8th ed. updated from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Purchase 8th ed. updated from Australia (Dymocks)

Click here to purchase 8th ed. updated version from Australia (The Nile)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Click here to purchase 8th ed. original version from Amazon

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