The Bali Bird Park is situated in Singapuda, north of Denpasar. Its quite an expensive day out getting there from Kuta where most of the tourists are. The local buses from Batubulan bus terminal pass right by the entrance road so that’s handy but first you need to get to the bus terminal itself, which from Kuta means a 100,000 rupiah motorbike ride or a 150,000 taxi ride (those are one-way prices). Or you can take one of the infrequent tourist buses up to Ubud for about 60,000 and then take another local bus back to the Bird Park. Any way you look at it its a pricey trip. And then when you get to the Bird Park the entrance fee is an exhorbitant US$21.50 (note those are American dollars) or the equivalent in rupiah which when I was there was 236,500. They really must be raking in the cash because the park was full of both tourists and locals while I was there.
The Bird Park is in the shape of an elongated wedge (if you visit their website Bali Bird Park - Heaven on Earth there’s probably a map on there). When you first enter you get sprayed down with a disinfectant which is unusual but has to be a good practice. The first birds you see are some macaws and cockatoos on perches and a couple of demoiselle cranes free on a lawn, and then a glass-fronted room where you can see young birds that are being hand-reared. The Park is divided more or less into geographical regions starting with Africa and the Americas, and then southeast Asian areas (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara). The aviaries are all built in one style which is nice, although they certainly aren’t designed with photography in mind. You could probably describe them as “Balinese” in style, with sand-coloured pillars at the corners and thick black mesh. The main problem I had with them was that almost all of them were (in my opinion) extremely small, often tall and narrow with a width sufficient for maybe four or five hops across the perch by the bird. Some were smaller than others of course, and some were quite adequate (even large), but most of the birds there certainly would benefit from more space. It all looked very nice though because of the lush vegetation everywhere.
The first aviaries are for South American birds, including scarlet ibis and roseate spoonbills, followed by large macaws (Buffon’s, green-winged, hyacinth) and then small macaws (such as severe and red-fronted – in very small cages), with the African section straight after which includes a mixed aviary of crowned cranes, Von der Decken’s hornbills, purple glossy starling, violet touraco, African grey parrot and helmeted guineafowl. Then there’s sort of a general collection of aviaries with such birds as toucans, kookaburras and to my surprise Sumba hornbills! The rest of the Bird Park is all Asian/New Guinea/Australian birds. There are two single-wattled cassowaries in separate pens that are shockingly small (probably ten or fifteen strides by the bird from one end to the other). There are some larger aviaries here too, like one with a lot of nicobar pigeons, wreathed and rhinoceros hornbills, and silver, argus and Bulwer’s pheasants (although I didn’t see the Bulwer’s). The biggest aviary is the walk-through “Papua Aviary” which looks fantastic, filled as it is with thick tropical vegetation. There are some small aviaries for lories inside (with the emphasis on “small”) but most of the birds here are free-flying although not all are from New Guinea. The nicest birds I saw in here were the male greater bird-of-paradise which I think I got some good photos of, yellow-streaked lories and New Guinea bronzewing pigeon (Henicophaps albifrons). The Bali Aviary is also a nice walk-through one, just after which are the bird-of-paradise aviaries, housing greater, lesser, red, magnificent, twelve-wired and king. The aviaries are useless for photography purposes because of the mesh they are made of, but the birds themselves are none the worse for that. These aviaries aren’t too small, except the ones for the king and magnificent birds-of-paradise which are once again very small vertical cages. Here are also a couple of pens for Komodo dragons.
Summary: nice birds, nice setting, most of the aviaries I think were too small, entry fee far too expensive. Best birds for me: single-wattled cassowary, Sumba hornbill, Javan hawk-eagle, all the birds-of-paradise, bearded barbet (Lybius dubius).
I have photos of many species and cages but I can’t upload any at this time because of time restraints, so that will have to wait till I’m back in NZ in November. I also made as complete lists as I could of all the species, because I know people on here always like to ask for lists, but again I’ll have to post those when back in NZ (the Bird Park list is about 120 species long)
The Bird Park is in the shape of an elongated wedge (if you visit their website Bali Bird Park - Heaven on Earth there’s probably a map on there). When you first enter you get sprayed down with a disinfectant which is unusual but has to be a good practice. The first birds you see are some macaws and cockatoos on perches and a couple of demoiselle cranes free on a lawn, and then a glass-fronted room where you can see young birds that are being hand-reared. The Park is divided more or less into geographical regions starting with Africa and the Americas, and then southeast Asian areas (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara). The aviaries are all built in one style which is nice, although they certainly aren’t designed with photography in mind. You could probably describe them as “Balinese” in style, with sand-coloured pillars at the corners and thick black mesh. The main problem I had with them was that almost all of them were (in my opinion) extremely small, often tall and narrow with a width sufficient for maybe four or five hops across the perch by the bird. Some were smaller than others of course, and some were quite adequate (even large), but most of the birds there certainly would benefit from more space. It all looked very nice though because of the lush vegetation everywhere.
The first aviaries are for South American birds, including scarlet ibis and roseate spoonbills, followed by large macaws (Buffon’s, green-winged, hyacinth) and then small macaws (such as severe and red-fronted – in very small cages), with the African section straight after which includes a mixed aviary of crowned cranes, Von der Decken’s hornbills, purple glossy starling, violet touraco, African grey parrot and helmeted guineafowl. Then there’s sort of a general collection of aviaries with such birds as toucans, kookaburras and to my surprise Sumba hornbills! The rest of the Bird Park is all Asian/New Guinea/Australian birds. There are two single-wattled cassowaries in separate pens that are shockingly small (probably ten or fifteen strides by the bird from one end to the other). There are some larger aviaries here too, like one with a lot of nicobar pigeons, wreathed and rhinoceros hornbills, and silver, argus and Bulwer’s pheasants (although I didn’t see the Bulwer’s). The biggest aviary is the walk-through “Papua Aviary” which looks fantastic, filled as it is with thick tropical vegetation. There are some small aviaries for lories inside (with the emphasis on “small”) but most of the birds here are free-flying although not all are from New Guinea. The nicest birds I saw in here were the male greater bird-of-paradise which I think I got some good photos of, yellow-streaked lories and New Guinea bronzewing pigeon (Henicophaps albifrons). The Bali Aviary is also a nice walk-through one, just after which are the bird-of-paradise aviaries, housing greater, lesser, red, magnificent, twelve-wired and king. The aviaries are useless for photography purposes because of the mesh they are made of, but the birds themselves are none the worse for that. These aviaries aren’t too small, except the ones for the king and magnificent birds-of-paradise which are once again very small vertical cages. Here are also a couple of pens for Komodo dragons.
Summary: nice birds, nice setting, most of the aviaries I think were too small, entry fee far too expensive. Best birds for me: single-wattled cassowary, Sumba hornbill, Javan hawk-eagle, all the birds-of-paradise, bearded barbet (Lybius dubius).
I have photos of many species and cages but I can’t upload any at this time because of time restraints, so that will have to wait till I’m back in NZ in November. I also made as complete lists as I could of all the species, because I know people on here always like to ask for lists, but again I’ll have to post those when back in NZ (the Bird Park list is about 120 species long)
Last edited:
