The Common Mynah feeds on insects and fruits and discarded waste from human habitation. It forages on the ground among grass for insects, and especially for grasshoppers from which it gets the generic name Acridotheres, “grasshopper hunter”. It walks on the ground with occasional hops.
Many people like to keep this common mynah as a pet as it can be trained to talk like humans.
Pairs of mynahs stay together year after year. In the breeding season they are strongly territorial. The nest is a cup of dry grass, twigs and leaves, usually in a hole in a tree, cliff, or building. They are very aggressive birds and will compete for nesting boxes which farmers put out to encourage starlings.
