Songs of the Forest

Snow-white Bali mynahs with brilliant blue eye masks in free flight or perched among green foliage are a sight to behold but could only be enjoyed by the privileged few because these beauties are so rare.

Now, in Songs of the Forest, you have the privilege of admiring the critically endangered feathered gems in proximity and enjoy their high- pitched tweets and chattering calls.

For fans of bird songs, paradise awaits at Songs of the Forest. Here, cackles, tweets and chirps of laughingthrushes, starlings and other songsters from Asia and beyond fill the air, especially in the morning.

Challenging oneself to identify the different calls and tracking down the birds that belt out the songs must be the highlight of a stroll through this aviary.

In most parts of Southeast Asia, forests are falling silent because of the alarming rate at which songbirds are poached unsustainably for the cagebird trade.

Songs of the Forest shines a spotlight on the Asian songbird crisis which requires urgent attention. Find out what we are doing to help songbirds from extinction and how you can support us in our songbird conservation efforts.

Unsustainable trapping of songbirds has driven even the most abundant songbirds to extinction. Many trapped songbirds die in transit because of the appalling conditions in which they are transported.

When the population of a `trending’ songbird species plummets, poachers target another species that is still abundant, repeating the vicious cycle, again and again!

Only a small number of songbirds are protected, and enforcement of laws is often lacking. The dearth of information on illegal trade hampers conservation work. Online trading hastens illegal trade and makes monitoring even more challenging.

We host the IUCN-SSC Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group (ASTSG) to drive songbird conservation across Southeast Asia through stakeholder engagement.