Bali starling by Phillip Coffey

Bali Starling

(Leucopsar rothschildi)

by Arlene, High School for Environmental Studies

For a long time, Bali starlings were referred to as the "Rothschild’s mynahs". This is because in they were discovered and named by the zoologist and author Baron Rothschild in 1911. Other birds that are part of the same family include: starlings, glossy starlings, mynah birds, and tick birds.

Physical Description: Bali Starlings are very beautiful birds. Their feathers are pure white with black tips on the wing and tail feathers. Their legs are grey, and the bare skin around their brown eyes is blue. The bill has a rich horn color with a yellow tip. Probably the most noticeable feature is the lacy crest of feathers on the head. Both male and female Bali starlings are crested.

Feeding/Diet: The adults eat fruit, insects (like caterpillars, ants, dragonflies, grasshoppers, flies, etc.), worms, and small reptiles. During the dry season, drinking water is scarce, so the birds depend on the early morning dew.

What do Bali starlings sound like?recorded July 1997 at the Jersey Zoo by M Wilkinson.

Breeding/Reproduction: During courtship, the birds stand next to each other and begin a series of bobbing movements. At the same time they make rhythmic clicking and croaking noises, ending with a high pitched shriek. Once a male and a female pair up, they can stay paired from one season to another. Both help to find a nest which is usually in a hole in a tree. They use straw, hay, twigs, grasses, coconut fibers, feathers, bark, and fresh or dry leaves to build their home. It usually takes them 14 to 20 days to build a nest. They can have from two to five eggs (usually three) over a one or two day time period. The eggs are bright blue in color and are the size of a small chicken's egg. Both male and female help incubate the eggs for 12 to 14 days. When the eggs hatch, the baby starlings (or chicks) are pretty much naked except for the feathers on their head and down their back. The mouth is large and pink with a rim of pale yellow. Cheeping, and the bright color of their mouths encourages the parents to feed them. They grow fast because of a protein rich diet of insects. The birds have their first adult feathers within a year.

Geographic Range: Bali starlings are only found in a small area on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Their habitat is the tall grasslands near the coast.

Social Structure: Starlings usually live in flocks. But, at the beginning of the breeding season (January - April) pairs stake out and protect a territory. They become aggressive to other birds who enter their territory - even other starlings.

Status: Critically Endangered Threats to Survival: In 1984, there were only 150 birds left in the wild. Today there are only 14 left in the wild on a single reserve. More than half of their habitat was converted into farmland, coconut plantation, and forest plantation. Many of them were captured and sold as pets. In the early 1970's, hundreds of starlings were imported into the USA and Europe as pets, even though there were laws to protect this species. Protection has improved, and in the last decade the number of guards, guard-posts and patrols has increased considerably.