Bali's 600 Wild Starlings Gain a Lifeline at a Farm-to-Table Restaurant

For climate and conservation professionals, Begawan Biji is not just a restaurant. It is a live case study in using regenerative agriculture and ecotourism revenue to underwrite species protection, with the stakes measured in individual birds rather than abstract percentages.

In mid-August 2026, travel reporting from The Sydney Morning Herald and WAtoday cast a spotlight on Begawan Biji Ubud, a farm-to-table restaurant in Payangan near Ubud that has become an unlikely front line in the effort to save the Bali starling. The restaurant is the latest iteration of the Begawan Foundation, a not-for-profit established more than 25 years ago by now-retired expatriate couple Bradley and Debora Gardner. It pairs organic dining in a modern-day wantilan, a traditional Balinese pavilion, with community-driven regenerative farming and conservation that the foundation has pursued across the island. The open-sided dining room overlooks quintessential Balinese rice fields, making the connection between food, landscape and biodiversity explicit.

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As few as 600 Bali starlings remain in the wild on Bali, with most individuals concentrated in West Bali National Park and on the island of Nusa Penida.

The species at the center of the story is the Bali starling, also known as the Bali mynah or jalak Bali. It is critically endangered and endemic to Bali, recognized by its brilliant white plumage, bright blue skin around the eyes and long drooping crest. The reporting is unambiguous that the restaurant does not cook these birds; it conserves them. Guests instead eat organic Indonesian and Asian dishes, including a standout organic chicken thigh sambal with a Sumatran green chilli emulsion cooked over fire. The venue itself reflects local tradition, designed as a wantilan pavilion in the middle of a rice field.

The conservation arithmetic is stark. As few as 600 Bali starlings remain in the wild on Bali, with most individuals concentrated in West Bali National Park and on the island of Nusa Penida. That wild population is far smaller than the 1,000 to 2,000 birds estimated to survive in global captive breeding programs and sanctuaries. In practical terms, the wild population is now outnumbered by managed populations, a dynamic that makes conservation institutions and private sanctuaries essential to preventing extinction. It also means that the visible presence of the species at a working restaurant carries disproportionate educational and fundraising weight.

From a sustainability perspective, Begawan Biji sits at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, ecotourism and species conservation. The foundation has spent more than two decades building local community relationships around farming and conservation, and the restaurant is described as the newest expression of that work. Rather than treating dining as separate from land management, the model links organic food production directly to habitat stewardship and endangered species awareness. In a place described by the sources as nature-challenged Bali, where tourism and development have put pressure on natural systems, such a model offers a counter-narrative: high-quality hospitality can operate alongside, and even fund, ecological restoration.

The climate and energy niche may seem distant from a single restaurant, but the underlying logic is familiar: land use, food systems and biodiversity are intertwined with climate resilience. Regenerative farming practices can improve soil health and water retention, while preserving rice-field landscapes maintains cultural and ecological function. The Bali starling is an indicator species for the health of Bali's remaining natural habitats. When a restaurant makes the survival of that species part of its identity, it converts visitors into a conservation audience and creates a recurring revenue stream that is less dependent on donor cycles than traditional non-profit fundraising.