Best Things to do in Ubud: Heron Bird Village

So one day we were riding back to home base from the grocery store and it's like the GPS likes to take us a different way every time. The roads around here are not like they are in most cities I've been to, there is no grid pattern so if you make a wrong turn you can't just make a few rights and be back where you started. It ends up being some long round about way. So anyway the GPS takes us on a different route which is cool because then we get new scenery. As we are going a long we start noticing this smell and it's not the lovely wafting scent of incense burning. It's like a bird cage which starts to make sense as we notice the incessant chirping. As we look up there are hundreds of birds nesting in the trees and flying all over. More birds than we've seen in one spot. We were in awe and wonder. As we came to the end of the road where we were supposed to turn the birds had dissipated. I looked behind us and noticed a sign for the Heron Colony of Petulu Village.

Naturally we had to go back, so the next day we did. It was a beautiful sight There is a small platform for bird viewing and we went up to check it out - better to be as high as the trees than under them. There were thousands of birds nestled in the trees and soaring through the skies.

I had to understand why are there so many birds here in this village and my research exposed some very interesting knowledge and Balinese beliefs. So the Heron birds (locally known as kokoan) flock here for a specific kind of fig tree that has sturdy but flexible branches- its perfect for making nests in. These birds are believed to be the "souls of the slaughtered" they are thought to be the reincarnation of thousands of Balinese that were killed in a massacre during the Indonesian Communist Party regime in the 60's. The birds appeared one week after a failed attempt at a coup in 1965. Heron's are seen as holy and blessed and are believed to be the answer to the villagers prayers of peace. These birds have made their homes in the trees lining the one road that leads in and out of the village and there are about 4000 of them. How we didn't get pooped on is amazing, but not as amazing as this piece of culture we happened upon. This is one of the best things to do in Ubud