Bali starling  (Leucopsar rothschildi)

Classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List 2007 (1), and listed on Appendix I of CITES (3). Conservationists now in fact think that the species may be extinct in the wild, but this is yet to be formerly confirmed (4).

The Bali starling is one of the rarest birds in the world and relatively new to science being first described in 1912 by Walter Rothschild (5), from whom the bird gains its specific name. This medium-large starling is almost entirely white apart from black wing- and tail-tips and the striking, bare blue skin around the eye (6). The crest is long and drooping, the bill is yellow and the legs are a greyish blue (6).

Endemic to the island Bali in Indonesia and previously found throughout the northwest third of the island (6).

Inhabits monsoon forest and acacia savannah (2).

The breeding season runs from October to November (6) and nests are preferentially made within woodpecker holes in the trunks of trees (2). Males become very aggressive at this time (2).

Outside the breeding season, Bali starlings could previously be found in flocks of up to 40 birds, often roosting in dense coconut trees (2). Adults feed on ants, termites and caterpillars but also on fruits and seeds (2) (5).

The Bali starling has been pushed to the brink of extinction by the illegal capture of individuals to satisfy the caged-bird trade. The rarer this beautiful species became, the higher the black market price, and the wild population has consequently been decimated (7). Habitat destruction and competition for nest sites with the black-winged starling (Sturnus melanopterus), which is spreading throughout the island, are further threats to survival (2).

The Bali starling has been protected under Indonesian law since 1970 and the entire recent wild population occurred within the Bali Barat National Park (6). BirdLife International established the Bali Starling Project in 1983, with the cooperation of the Indonesian government and US and British zoos, in an attempt to save this species from extinction (2). Armed guards protected the population within the park and captive-bred individuals were released to bolster the wild population, but numbers nevertheless continued to decline to just 36 to 40 individuals in 1994. (2). The programme was dogged with problems, and in 1999 an armed gang stole almost all the 39 captive individuals in the park that were awaiting release into the wild; in the same year the wild population plummeted once again, this time to just 12 individuals (6). Despite ongoing conservation efforts the Bali starling is now believed to be Extinct in the Wild (4), and the future of Bali's national bird looks increasingly bleak.

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

For more information on the Bali starling see:

• BirdLife International’s World Bird Database
  http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6822&m=0
• Red Data Book, Threatened Birds of Asia BirdLife International. (2001) Threatened Birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
• BirdLife International (2000) Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona and Cambridge.