Strange birds of a feather: Israeli common myna, between invasiveness and belonging

This paper examines the complex relationships between humans and invasive species through an ethnographic study of the Common Myna ( Acridotheres tristis ) in Israel. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at the Israel Center for Citizen Science, interviews with birdwatchers, and analysis of public discourse, I explore how the myna has become embedded in Israeli society through three distinct but interrelated representations: as an invasive threat, as a socio-cultural Other, and as a reflection of Israeli identity itself. The study reveals how invasion narratives emerge through complex interactions between scientific classification, cultural context, and the species’ own agency, demonstrating that the binary between ‘native’ and ‘invasive’ species operates on a spectrum shaped by multiple factors including temporality, behavior, and cultural reception. While scholarship has often positioned invasion biology either as objective science or colonial discourse, this study argues for approaches that can hold both the material reality of ecological threats and their social construction in view simultaneously. Through examining how different social actors engage with and make sense of the myna's presence, this study contributes to our understanding of how societies grapple with environmental change and the increasingly complex relationships between human and non-human actors in the Anthropocene era.