Natural History Wanderings

Monga Bay reported

• An Indonesian songbird once nearly extinct in the wild, the Bali starling, is making a comeback through community-led conservation on Nusa Penida and beyond.
• Strict law enforcement and captive breeding failed to reverse the bird’s decline; poaching and habitat loss continued despite decades of formal protections.
• In the early 2000s, conservationists changed tactics, working with communities on Nusa Penida to establish the island as a sanctuary for Bali starlings.
• Villages embraced traditional awig-awig regulations to protect the starling, creating powerful cultural, social and financial deterrents to poaching..

Read more Indigenous-led protections spark Bali starling’s recovery in the wild