For a bird that prefers to live around human habitations, the mynah is extremely wary of people—probably with good reason, for among the imported birds the mynah has never been particularly well loved. Yet it is at least partly beneficial since it often feeds on agricultural insect pests. “Mynah bird” has become a favorite Hawaiian expression for anyone who chatters endlessly.
WHITE-EYE Zosterops palpibrosus
(also mejiro)
WHITE-EYE
DESCRIPTION: 4½″. A tiny yellow-green bird with a distinct white eye-ring. Its back and wings are green, the throat yellow, and under parts gray; the bill is thin and straight. Only other common small green bird is the amakihi, which has no white around the eyes. Immatures are duller, and the eye-ring, although present, is less distinct.
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced from Japan in 1929. Now widely established on all islands. Kilauea—Common almost everywhere in the park. Haleakala—Fairly common throughout the park, except at the highest elevations or in the barren portions of the crater.
VOICE: A thin, high-pitched song a bit like that of the house finch, but much higher and not as loud. Note: a high tsee or chee given repeatedly.
You will hear a rapid chittering of high notes as a flock of three or four white-eyes fly into the nearby shrubbery. Notice how quickly they work over the foliage and limbs gleaning tiny insects. They continue to utter their notes as they feed, but soon one by one they are off again to new vegetation.
The pattern of population increase for the white-eye has paralleled that of many exotic species. Following their introduction in 1929 the birds were at first slow to increase their range, but in more recent years a population explosion has taken place ... on the Island of Hawaii, at least. It is presently the commonest bird on the island and it seems to have adapted to nearly every habitat. There is every indication that the white-eye, competing for insects with native Hawaiian birds such as the Hawaiian creeper, has virtually eliminated some of the natives from their former habitat.