Bali myna

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED SONGBIRD

Have you come across a Bali myna while exploring and birdwatching at the Tropical House? You can recognise it by its white plumage with black bands on the tips of its wing and tail feathers, the long, backward-pointing crest, and its almost mask-like blue skin around the eyes. There is little difference between male and female – the male's crest simply has slightly longer feathers.

The Bali myna flies in small groups in open forests in north-west Bali, where they forage on the forest floor. Down there, they eat a bit of everything: plant seeds, nectar, and fruits like figs and papaya. Their favourite food, however, is insects such as grasshoppers, ants, termites, dragonflies, caterpillars, worms, spiders, and small reptiles.

During the breeding season, monogamous pairs are seen preening each other's feathers and displaying coordinated behaviour that signals their pair bond. If you visit the Tropical House from January to April, you might be lucky enough to witness the male's courtship dance, where he puffs himself up with raised feathers on his body and head and hops rhythmically in time to his own song.

The female lays 1-5 pale blue eggs with small brown spots, often in a nest built in natural tree hollows or old woodpecker holes. After about 15 days, the eggs hatch, and the chicks are cared for and fed by both parents. After about 25 days, they leave the nest but continue to be fed for several weeks.

Because of the Bali myna's beautiful appearance, it has been popular as a pet and songbird. This may not sound so bad, but the species is traded illegally. It does not help that it only lives in a very limited area of Bali. The trade has had very serious consequences for the population size, and between 1985 and 2019, the Bali myna was functionally extinct in the wild. Only through targeted breeding programmes was the species preserved.

Now it finally seems that these efforts have borne fruit, and the wild population of Bali mynas has begun to grow on its own. The population reached over 600 individuals in 2025. However, the Bali myna is still critically endangered and continues to need help. This makes it one of the most threatened animal species in Copenhagen Zoo.

The zoo has had success breeding Bali mynas for many years and has previously sent offspring to Indonesia. There, they are part of national breeding programmes that have bred them further and released their young into the wild.