Bali

Conservation of the Bali Starling within the Melinggih Kelod Village through Community Activities and Education Awareness

The Bird Conservation Fund is seeking to raise $5,000 to help the Begawan Foundation raise and reintroduce the Bali Starling (Leucopsar Rothschildi), a critically endangered bird species, into the wild.  The Bali Starling is endemic to the island of Bali in Indonesia.  Long prized for its beauty and its song, the bird is on the verge of extinction in the wild, due to relentless trapping for both the domestic and international songbird trade.  

For the past two decades, efforts were made to reestablish wild populations of the Starlings, but these efforts were hampered by illegal poaching.  By 2017, only about 100 adult starlings remained in the wild, with perhaps 1,000 worldwide remaining in captivity.  In this year, the Bali-based Begawan Foundation initiated a new community-based conservation program, that gives the villagers the opportunity to breed Bali Starlings for local release, and to be accountable for their safety once in the wild. This project recognizes the Balinese tradition of a ‘caged bird on the porch’ and is designed not to impose alien conservation values but rather to discuss with villagers the option of enjoying both a caged bird and birds in the environment. The Begawan Foundation’s approach of working within Balinese cultural values, combined with community education programs, has a real chance of effecting changes that will endure.

The community-based conservation program in the village of Melinggih Kelod in central Bali is running successfully, with 7 local breeders and currently 15 F1 Bali Starling chicks, and is supported by the village itself, through the “Madhusuara Breeders Association Melinggih Kelod” who meet regularly as a group with the foundation’s founder, Bradley Gardner. Bird food has also been supplied by the village for the past year, continuing on into 2021, demonstrating self-sustenance, and their commitment and involvement in the Bali Starling conservation effort. 

Support from the local community has also been demonstrated by the creation of an 'awig-awig' (local law) in 2018. The awig-awig, which is supported by the local authorities, states that shooting/trapping/hunting the Bali Starling or any other protected wildlife in the area is prohibited, under penalty of a Rp10,000,000 fine. A released pair of starlings continue to breed at the breeding center, observed in the nest box with video and in the wild by local residents. Several recently released birds are also present and in the forests around the community, which are being monitored by the project and by the breeders’ association. 

Begawan Foundation has also introduced an awareness program for students. A 10-week conservation education program for schools began in one class in one school in one village in 2015, and has now reached over 2,000 primary students in 25 schools in 6 villages.

Anticipated Results in 2021:

The $5,000 grant provided by Bird Conservation Fund will be used to support the Begawan Foundation’s Bali Starling Project, specifically through increased controlled releases of starlings in an effort to create a self-sustaining local wild population. 

In 2021, the foundation will conduct three releases of captive raised birds and establish a flock of up to 42 wild birds likely in two flocks.  The emphasis is to create two local flocks, as Bali Starlings are very territorial and the adults actively force their young to leave their natal area, once fledged. Therefore young birds need to find an established flock to join, otherwise their tendency is to disperse and fly away from the area, putting them at risk in the wild. Ultimately the foundation seeks to establish a self-sustaining starling population in the area around Melinggih Kelod Village.