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Bali Starling (Leucopsar rothschildi) wildlife photograph

Field guide · legendary

Bali Starling

One of the rarest birds on Earth, a snow-white starling with electric-blue eye patches, found only on Bali.

Critically Endangered

Leucopsar rothschildi

Overview

The Bali starling, or jalak Bali, is the island's only endemic bird and its official faunal emblem. Pure white with black wing tips and a vivid bare patch of blue skin around each eye, it is one of the most beautiful, and most endangered, songbirds in the world.

Decades of trapping for the caged-bird trade drove the wild population to fewer than ten birds in the early 2000s. Intensive breeding and release programmes have slowly pulled the species back from the edge, making every wild sighting a genuinely legendary discovery.

Habitat

  • Dry forest
  • Open woodland
  • Coastal scrub

Wild Bali starlings survive almost entirely within Bali Barat National Park at the island's western tip, favouring open savanna woodland and monsoon forest edge. A second reintroduced population is establishing on the nearby island of Nusa Penida.

Countries found

Field notes

Field scale for the Bali Starling: length around 25 cm; weight 85-90 g. Typical lifespan: Around 10-15 years in the wild; longer in captivity.

When you are scanning habitat, prioritise dry forest, open woodland, and coastal scrub. Those settings are where a clean look and a usable photo are most likely.

Quick ID anchor: Snow-white plumage with black wing and tail tips and a vivid bare blue patch around each eye. Confirm with behaviour and habitat before you log the discovery.

Where to see one

  • Indonesia

    In Indonesia, start at Bali Barat National Park (West Bali). The last wild stronghold of the Bali starling, alongside rusa deer, langurs, and over 160 other bird species.

    More context on this destination lives on the Indonesia expedition page.

    Spotting guide for Bali Starling in Indonesia

Diet

Omnivorous starling taking fruit, nectar, seeds, and insects in dry Bali woodland and scrub.

Forages in trees and on the ground in small groups where populations persist.

Behaviour

Social and vocal; nests in tree cavities; critically endangered and heavily dependent on protected releases.

Wild birds now largely confined to Bali Barat National Park and managed sites on Bali.

How to identify

Snow-white plumage with black wing and tail tips and a vivid bare blue patch around each eye.

Crest of long white feathers on the head; unmistakable among Bali's birds.

Interesting facts

  1. 01

    At its lowest point, fewer than 10 Bali starlings survived in the wild.

  2. 02

    It is the official bird of Bali and appears on the island's 200-rupiah coin era emblems.

  3. 03

    The species was only described by science in 1912.

  4. 04

    Both parents share nest building, incubation, and chick feeding.

  5. 05

    Its call is a sharp, chattering song used to defend territory in pairs.

Conservation status

CR: Critically Endangered

Poaching for the songbird trade remains the greatest threat. Community-run breeding programmes on Bali and Nusa Penida have raised the wild population into the low hundreds, a fragile but real recovery.

Sources: IUCN Red List

Keep exploring

Where it lives

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