Re-introduction of the black-winged starling in Gunung Halimun Salak National Park, West Java, Indonesia

Summary

The black-winged starling (Sturnus melanopterus), Critically Endangered from intensive trapping for the illegal cage-bird trade, was released for the first time from captive stock anywhere on Java when the Cikananga Conservation Breeding Centre freed 40 West Javan subspecies birds into a gold-mine area of Gunung Halimun Salak National Park on 23 April 2013. Birds selected for balanced sex ratio and genetic diversity were health-screened and held in a habituation cage for six months, longer than the planned two due to coordination delays among the mine operator, national park and breeding centre, before a soft release with a month of food supply and 25 predator-proof nest boxes nearby. Monitoring found 20 of the 40 birds still present after six months, foraging on insects in surrounding plantations, but numbers crashed to just six by November 2013, likely triggered by release of a confiscated predator nearby and a drop in fruit availability that pushed birds to disperse into areas with no anti-poaching awareness where several were caught. Breeding began in March 2014, and by September that year four juveniles had fledged from two pairs, with local villagers, now protective of the species, thwarting one attempted juvenile theft and prompting the hiring of three local security guards; the surviving population stood at eight birds, with further releases planned. The project rates itself partially successful, noting some birds established well and bred, but that its community education program started too late and lacked scale, contributing to the population's steep decline before local ownership took hold.