📷 Myna at the Edge — India · 13 Jul 2026
A photograph and a story, every morning
Myna at the Edge
India · nature
A common myna stands on grass at the edge of a pond, head turned to watch something offstage. The most everyday bird in India, briefly elegant.
Common mynas — Acridotheres tristis — are not exotic. They are the pigeons of India in terms of ubiquity, and they have been so successful at colonising human environments that the IUCN lists them among the world's hundred worst invasive species. They are everywhere — railway platforms, hotel lawns, garden compounds, market squares — and most people stop noticing them by their first week in the country.
This one had paused at the edge of a small pond, head cocked, watching something I couldn't see. The grass was green from a recent watering, the water behind it was the pale milky colour of a town tank. I shot quickly. Mynas don't hold a pose for very long. What I wanted was the contrast — the dark, alert bird against the soft green, with that famous yellow eye-mask catching the light. Mynas are easy to dismiss. But every now and then one looks up and you remember they're a successful species for a reason.