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The Bali Barat National Park is home to Bali’s only endemic bird, the Rothschild’s Mynah which is more commonly known as the Bali Starling. The bird is pure white except for its black wing-tips and blue face. In the evenings, the mynahs normally fly down from the hills where they feed during the day to roost near the sea. The local Pilang tree (Acacia leucophloea) which occupies many parts of the park monsoon forest has been their choice of nest for ages. As it gets older, the tree normally looses off its skin making it slippery for any predator such as snake to climb and hunt the starling eggs.
Although Bali is its natural and only habitat, the numbers of Bali Starling have never been large. Today it is believed that less than 30 Bali Starling’s have remained uncaptured in the wild! A cooperative conservation program is being implemented by the Indonesian and overseas agencies to try to introduce some of these captive birds back to the wild.
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