Kea crazy - Fiordland

I think it's time for a single animal dedicated post again. Why? Well quite frankly because I can't choose which photos to post.... And having a Milford Sound post with 8 pictures of Kea and 4 of the sound would be a bit weird wouldn't it?

Our first kea

So what is a Kea? An alpine parrot! Endemic to New Zealand, and not too common since it was hunted to near extinction. You might wonder why, could it be that tasty? Or may be as stupid as a dodo?

Sitting pretty

None of the above, it's actually one of the more intelligent birds, but it does occasionally kill sheep! 

It's alpine habitat means it needs high caloric food to survive, like (animal) fat. To get that, some kea would tear open a sheep's backside and feed on its fatty layers. And most sheep apparently die as a result of that treatment.

Rainy kea

What do you of that that massive beak now? 

Not very surprisingly this behaviour led farmers to kill any kea they'd lay eyes on. There was even a bounty for every kea upper beak handed in. Nowadays kea are a protected species, though still occasionally (illegally) hunted. 

Windy kea

Now we've read on many sites that your bound to spot a kea when you stop anywhere in the Southern Alps. Kea are very opportunistic, and have learned that humans provide a generous and steady source of food, so they hang out at alpine viewing points and parking lots. 

Though they also like to destroy rubber window seals and windscreen wipers, and quite a few warnings are posted for that.

But we had been in the Alps for days and hadn't seen any. It was getting to the point that we feared we might not see any.

Up to no good kea

Luckily that change when we drive back form Milford Sound. At each stop we made, we saw one or multiple kea. And none of them very shy. They'd walk right up to us and our car, to see if there was anything interesting. We almost had an extra passenger. 

But looking at them walking around they do not look very intelligent. But I don't think any walking bird looks smart, they've got wings for a reason!

And kea have pretty wings too. Though they are an olive brown green hue when walking, once they take flight you see the brilliant orange on the bottom of their wings. But you'll have to google to see a picture of that. 

Fluffy kea