Kea

The world's only snow parrot

Our kea is the world’s only parrot which lives amongst the snow. It’s the second largest parrot in New Zealand and it can live up to 40 years like the kakapo.

Kea live in the South Island’s high country. They snack on everything from tree roots, berries, buds, seeds, insects and worms and will also scavenge on dead animals, birds’ eggs and even baby birds.

Unlike its cousins the kaka and the kakapo, kea was too chewy and smelly to become a favourite dish amongst settlers, but it had other threats.

Rats, stoats and possums prey on its eggs, and introduced deer and chamois compete with it for food.

People have been the biggest threats to our kea. You see, a few rogue kea developed a taste for sheep meat. Sheep-killing made the farmers very angry and all the kea got the blame. They were hunted and killed. The government paid the equivalent of $65 dollars (10 shillings) for every kea beak.

One hundred and fifty thousand kea were killed during this period, until full protection was placed on the kea in 1986.

Now kea number between one and five thousand birds - a shadow of their former population.

Our kea is one of the world’s most intelligent birds, and some say its intelligence is right up there with monkeys.

Scientists have created a range of intelligence tests for kea and it passes them with flying colours, placing it among some of the most intelligent birds such as jays, crows, hawks and falcons.

The kea’s beak is like a swiss army knife. It can be used to tear at roots, pierce prey, and perform the most delicate of tasks such as feeding newly hatched chicks.

Fast Facts

• Like coyotes, crows and humans, keas can learn and create new solutions to whatever problems they encounter
• Kea mate for life, and unlike the kakapo, both parents will work to bring up their chicks.
• Kea have a high-pitched ‘kee-aa’ call, often heard in flight. They also have a variety of quieter whistling calls.
• Even as adults, they may spend more time on the ground than in the air. Keas live with their brothers and sisters until they reach sexual maturity, whereupon females remain in the area of their birth, while young males disperse to form their own flocks.
• A group of kea is called a ‘circus of kea’ – how fitting!