The Orange-Headed thrush display.

Songbird competitions are a popular feature of contemporary urban culture in West Indonesia. Demand for species with exceptional vocal repertoires has caused ‘rolling’ local extinctions. In response influential communities of practice with hobbyist, breeder and conservation networks have come together to create a prestige-led, voluntary market based instrument (VMBI) to develop ethical and sustainable supply chains of birds involving certification and a social marketing campaign.

The Orange-Headed thrush feed the chick in its nest.

This project aims to establish the ecological sustainability of a system of harvesting orange-headed thrush chicks on Bali which emerged in 2001 and is governed by customary village law. The goal is to assess whether the practice could be certified and form a model for replication elsewhere in Indonesia.