A surge in detections of the Indian myna, or common myna, has raised concerns that one of the world's most invasive birds is expanding its territory in Australia.
The bird, not to be confused with the Australian noisy miner, has been spotted moving further inland, prompting concern from the Invasive Species Council.
Council conservation and biosecurity analyst Lyall Grieve said the pest, which normally favours urban areas, was now being seen in rural parts of Australia.
"People in rural areas are seeing them spread along the highways," he said.
"Once they get to a certain population density in the town they're in they spread out to more ranges and more areas."
The Indian myna was ranked one of the world's 100 worst invasive species by the World Conservation Union in 2000.
When Indian mynas move into an area they force native birds out of their wood hollows and even kill their chicks, leading to a decline in native bird numbers.
The website Feral Scan keeps track of public sightings of mynas.
Loading...The greatest concentrations are in the cities and along the coast, but there have been at least 21 sightings of the bird near Deniliquin in southern NSW over the past year, and up to 50 near Forbes in the central west.
Near Griffith, nearly 600 kilometres west of Sydney, farmer Rodney Guest said this year he had been seeing mynas at his property for the first time.
"I'm 40 kilometres north of Griffith and I've two at my place," he said.
"Last week we were at Longreach and I saw some there, which really surprised me."
Mr Grieve said by the time people noticed the Indian myna it meant they were about to spread to the next town.
However, Mr Grieve said communities could help native birds by planting native trees, which Indian mynas were not as fond of.
"They don't like the native vegetation. They prefer urban areas," he said.
"They like well-manicured gardens, they like grass and lots of places they can sit. So planting native trees is something people can do to help our native birds out."