Begawan Foundation’s Second Release in 2021

Begawan Foundation has been working for more than 20 years to preserve the Bali Starling and has undertaken a number of releases before, such as those in Nusa Penida in 2006 and 2007, and in Sibang in 2014. In order to realize our goal to see Bali Starlings flying freely in the wild, on June 22, 2021, we released a further two Bali Starlings at a community compound in Banjar Begawan, Melinggih Kelod, Payangan. This is the second release for 2021.

The two Bali Starlings that we have released are a couple which were productive in their enclosure. We hope that they will be even more productive in the wild, as are the wild pair that settled in our Breeding Centre after their release in 2018. Prior to their release, we moved the pair from our Breeding Centre to the compound for three months, so that they feel familiar and comfortable with the release location.

Our veterinarian, dr. Sugiarta, accompanied by our bird keeper, Kadek, installed a microchip in the pair’s bodies to prevent bird theft. The code on the microchip implanted in the bodies of the pair that we will release is registered by our staff, so our chances of finding them are greater, if the pair is found elsewhere.

We also installed five nest boxes in a radius of 100-200 meters around the release site. Dr. Sugiarta predicts that the pair will settle around Banjar Begawan and Banjar Tibekauh. Kadek, our birdkeeper, still conducts intensive monitoring every day, under the supervision of our veterinarian who routinely visits two to three times a week, and to our delight, this pair has settled in one of the nest boxes that we provided around the release site. (Nitya Swastika)