Moveable feast: myna birds on Sydney train looking for food not ‘joyride’ in viral video

Moveable feast: myna birds on Sydney train looking for food not ‘joyride’ in viral video | Wildlife | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Close dialogue 1 / 1 Next image Previous image Toggle caption Print subscriptions Newsletters Sign in US US edition UK edition Australia edition Europe edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home The Guardian News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show more Hide expanded menu News View all News US news US politics Midterms 2026 World news Climate crisis Middle East Ukraine US immigration Soccer Business Environment Tech Science Newsletters The Filter Wellness Opinion View all Opinion The Guardian view Columnists Letters Opinion videos Cartoons Sport View all Sport Soccer NFL Tennis MLB MLS NBA WNBA NHL F1 Golf Culture View all Culture Film Books Music Art & design TV & radio Stage Classical Games Design a better world Lifestyle View all Lifestyle The Filter Wellness Fashion Food Recipes Love & sex Home & garden Health & fitness Family Travel Money Search input google-search Search Support us Print subscriptions Newsletters Download the app Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Wordiply Corrections Tips Search input google-search Search Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us Environment Climate crisis Wildlife Energy Pollution Green light Common mynas are ‘incredibly accustomed’ to living around humans, a wildlife researcher says. Photograph: imageBROKER/Kevin Sawford/Getty Images/imageBROKER RF View image in fullscreen Common mynas are ‘incredibly accustomed’ to living around humans, a wildlife researcher says. Photograph: imageBROKER/Kevin Sawford/Getty Images/imageBROKER RF Wildlife Moveable feast: myna birds on Sydney train looking for food not ‘joyride’ in viral video Mynas are ‘incredibly good learners’ and likely hopped on the inner-city train to scrounge, expert says Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Caitlin Cassidy Fri 4 Sep 2026 02.35 EDT Last modified on Fri 4 Sep 2026 03.20 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google A viral video of common myna birds appearing to calmly ride a Sydney train in place of winged flight has shocked social media users. But not experts, who say it makes perfect sense that avian life has adapted to routinely navigate public transport. Bird life is ubiquitous in Australia’s urban landscapes. They appear in our shopping centres, our workplaces, our homes. To witness a feathered friend on a train isn’t exceptional. But ABC producer Jackie Dent was surprised to hear, when encountering a pair of myna birds on Sydney’s inner-city North Shore line last month, that they were apparently regular commuters. The duo were casually perched atop a seat together, well behaved and unmoving. Allow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram . We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . Allow and continue Dent hopped on at Roseville station and observed the birds “very relaxed and at home”. “I got off at Chatswood to change trains and spoke to a lovely train guard to raise the alert that two birds were stuck on the train,” she wrote on social media alongside a video of the duo. To her surprise, the guard responded that they “always” caught the train, jumping on and off between Lindfield and Artarmon – supposedly to scrounge for food. Her post quickly went viral and the comment section blew up, with others sharing stories of birds they’d witnessed exhibiting the same behaviour. “I’d always watch them when I caught the train to Lindfield in my uni days! They know exactly where they are going,” one user wrote of myna birds. How do you vaccinate 1,000 tiny penguins against bird flu in the wild? It’s ‘really tricky’ but there is a way Read more Sean Dooley, a senior advisor at BirdLife Australia, said it was “unusual” for birds to fly on to trains but not “unexpected”. “The common myna is a highly intelligent bird,” he said. “It does seem very likely that it is the same birds riding the same train … to take advantage of food resources along the line.” Common mynas are monogamous and territorial, so the duo are likely a couple. But Dooley said the habit could also spread to other mynas, as they share behaviour. “They’ve learned to exploit all sorts of food resources from us, and they’re particularly good at feeding on the waste that we have, whether it’s in bins or stuff that’s strewn around,” he said. “Clearly they’ve worked out that there’s a veritable smorgasbord along the Northern line.” skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | When needed Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion Andrea Griffin, an