Kea

(Nestor notabilis) 

Live: Plentiful on the western side of the Southern Alps, kea may also be found in the Pelarus Mountains and the Kaikoura Range as well as the Tararua Range of the North Island.

Habitat: Found in native forests up to 2000m. Kea are less common east of the main divide where native forests are fewer.

Diet:
In the wild: Berries, seeds, tender roots, leaf buds, flowers, insects and worms. In January nectar of the flowering mountain flax is a favourite food. Kea will also scavenge rubbish dumps and carrion. They are fond of bone marrow. They will steal eggs.
Zoo diet: Seed mix, fruit & vegetables, nectar mix daily and browse branches. Enclosure cleaned daily - they make a lot of mess.

Gestation:July - January.
Males may have one or more mates.
Nest: Often on the ground in a rocky crevice, beneath tree roots or a fallen tree. Loosely made of lichens, twigs, leaves, nests may be added to over several years.
Eggs: 2-3 ovoid, smooth and white. The female incubates them for 21 - 24 days whilst the male roosts nearby to guard the nest or feed the female. Eggs hatch over several days.

Status: Endemic and partially protected

General: 
Size to 46cm. The male is slightly larger than the female.
Distinguishing features include general olive-green colour with orange-red underwings. The male's beak is more curved than the female's. They have dark brown eyes and brown-black beaks and legs.

Call: Kea are named after their loud "keaa" warning call but they also have a range of less harsh 'conversational' calls.

Habits:Like most parrots they walk with deliberate, waddling stride; jumping when in a hurry.
Kea fly low and fast through bush, high when travelling far.

Chicks: Grey-cream down, obvious yellow patches at sides of beak. The male often feeds fledglings. Chicks remain in the nest for 9- 2 weeks and are fledged by 13-14 weeks. Only 37% of Kea live longer than 1 year.

Kea, the only alpine parrot in the world, were hunted legally In the first half of the twentieth century as they were unfairly blamed for the deaths of many sheep. Partial protection was granted in 1970.

To find out how you can help conserve kea in the wild, go to www.keaconservation.co.nz.