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The Kea in flight. This parrot is overall drab in colour but it
does boast some flare of colour, the viberant orange of its
underwings.
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New Zealand has boasted the oddest array of wildlife in the world. The Kiwi bird, the flightless parrot the Kakapo, the extinct giant moa and even now extinct almost flightless bats are just some of its oddities. Another of these oddities’ are the Parrots of the genus Nestor. These are the Kea, the New Zealand and Norfolk Kaka and the extinct Chatham Kaka. The Nestor parrots are closely related to the endangered Kakapo. For this blog entry I will focus on the Kea, I will devote a blog to the Kaka’s in the future.
The Kea
At first glance it may resemble a bird of prey but without a doubt this is a parrot. The Kea is an alpine and forested living highly omnivorous parrot. They are highly intelligent, very curious and, bizarre for a wild bird, extremely bold and friendly around people. The beak isn’t as highly curved as other parrots and the reason for this can be seen in its diet. It does eat fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, leaves and shoots but this parrot is an active predator as well and dines on insects, small reptiles, other birds and mammals. They also love to dine on carrion and with the arrival of humans they have been found to eat almost anything they find.
The Kea and people:
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| The Kea has little fear of people and find our belongings as sources of fun. |
Despite how adaptable the Kea is, easily accepting new food sources, they are currently listed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) they are listed as vulnerable and work is on the way to preserve and help this species thrive for future generations. The Kea, though a destructive nuisance to the islands inhabitants, is seen as ‘the clown of the mountains’ and is an attractant for tourists.
These highly curious and intelligent birds have been noted to investigate everything from knapsacks to parked cars causing damage to the item of interest and even flying off with small items from people.
Kea like its Kakapo and Kaka relatives are not kept as pets and are rare to be see in captivity.
Lifestyle:
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| The Keas home range. |
Mortality rate of young Kea is high, only about 40% survive their first year, and the birds live with an average life expectancy of 50 years. Unlike their solitary living Kakapo relatives the Kea is a social bird living in flocks of up to 13 parrots. Both male and female rear the 3-4 chicks that depend on their parents for around six months.
The Kea currently is the only known Alpine living parrot. It lives mainly in forests by the New Zealand Mountains and along the western coast of the southern island as well as the Alpine meadows and river valleys that cover parts of the mountains. They do not live on the northern New Zealand island but fossil evidence suggests they might have lived there over 10 000 years ago. Currently the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) lists the Kea as Vulnerable and it is believed that around 5 000 to 15 000 individuals exist. Shooting, introduced predators and accidental lead poisoning due to curious investigations of non-safe objects are the main threats to the Keas survival.
The Kea may seem like a killer monster parrot but these are truly amazing and wonderful birds.
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| Kea eating a dead rabbit. |
For more information on the Kea visit these websites:
Those poor sheep! I can't imagine how freaky it would be to be walking along then suddenly a bird starts ripping flesh out of your sides?!?! They are pretty cool looking though, and I understand why tourists would love their little performances:)
ReplyDeleteSounds like Newzealand is the place to be if you are a parrot. If there is no thing I have learned from your blog it is how diverse parrots are before I exclusively thought of macaws but you prove me wrong time and time again with the Kea as no exception.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw the pictures I too thought, woah that is a tough looking bird. After reading your post though I feel as though I might enjoy a run in with a kea! Loved the "clowns of the mountains" comment.
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