Abstract
We investigated the colonial breeding of the Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus, an introduced species, using the weep holes of an artificial concrete wall in the suburbs of Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, central Japan. The wall contained 266 weep holes, 42 of which Crested Mynas used as nesting sites in early May 2008 and 18 of them were used again between late July and early August. The used holes had considerable space (more than 19cm in length) at the back between the end of the hole and the soil, while the unused ones had little or no space (less than 7cm long). The nestlings were mostly provided with insects (91% ), such as Coleoptera (beetles), Cicadae and Acrididae (locusts). The number of fledglings accompanied by their parents was less than three. It is assumed that the weep holes of an artificial wall are favorable to breeding Crested Mynas due to a low risk of the nest predation of crows and snakes as well as human disturbance.
