This abundant member of the Starling family (Sturnidae) is native to Southern Asia but has been widely introduced and become an invasive agricultural pest in some areas. In Hawaii they were introduced in 1866 to control a plague of cutworms and army worms in sugarcane plantations. From their original introduction in Honolulu, they rapidly expanded to all other main islands. They reached Midway Atoll in 1971 probably as stowaways on a cargo plane. They are common in the cage bird trade and famous for their ability to mimic human speech. Two subspecies are recognized. This is the widespread nominate race. A darker race with larger yellow eye patch is confined to Sri Lanka. A genetic study by Baker and Moeed (1987) found various introduced populations were much more genetically differentiated than native ones stating that in the "short period of 100-120 years, bottlenecks and random drift have promoted genetic shifts equal to those between different subspecies of birds." Canon PowerShot SX60 HS.
References:
Baker, A. J. and A. Moeed. (1987). Rapid genetic differentiation and founder effect in colonizing populations of Common Mynas (Acridotheres tristis). Evolution 41:525-538.
Craig, A., Feare, C. & Garcia, E.F.J. (2020). Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/60874 on 25 January 2020).
Gibson, R. A., A. J. Baker and A. Moeed. (1984). Morphometric variation in introduced populations of the Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis): an application of the jackknife to principal component analysis. Systematic Zoology 33:408-421.
Kannan, R. and D. A. James (2001). Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.583
Pratt, H.D., Bruner, P., and Berrett, D.G. (1987) A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press.
Pyle, R.L., and P. Pyle. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, U.S.A. Version 2 (1 January 2017) http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph/
Rasmussen, P.C. & Anderton, J.C. 2012. Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vols. 1 and 2. Second Edition. Smithsonian Institution. Michigan State University & Lynx Edicions, Washington. D.C., Michigan & Barcelona.