Welcome to the Jungle (Gym): Kea Profile

Is this the cleverest bird?

Kea (Nestor notabilis) on the way to Milford Sound © Poppy Simon

This feels sacrilegious to say as a zoologist but, before visiting New Zealand last year, I had never really been that 'into' birds, bar maybe parrots and penguins. The birds of New Zealand, however, are absolutely fascinating - not coincidentally, they include several parrots and penguins.

Because New Zealand is so geographically isolated, it has no native land mammals apart from two species of bat. This means that birds have been able to occupy ecological roles, or niches, typically occupied by mammals elsewhere in the world. As well as this, having no mammalian predators, many of them evolved to be flightless, since they didn't really need to escape quickly from anything.

I hope to do a few profiles of some of my favourite New Zealand birds - I've already covered the Hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, so today I'm going to talk about the Kea, or alpine parrot.

Sheepish-looking Kea hiding under the bus © Poppy Simon

If you've been around the South Island of New Zealand, you may well have come across these clever birds. Despite being relatively rare (there are only 3,000-7,000 remaining), they are often found on popular tourist routes where they beg for food... among other things.

Recently, road workers near the Homer Tunnel on the way to Milford Sound were mystified that traffic cones kept suddenly appearing in the middle of the road, confusing the transport agency and motorists alike. When they looked at CCTV, it turned out that young male keas (essentially bored teenagers) were moving the traffic cones into the middle of the road when workers stopped for the day. Some scientists have even speculated that they deliberately moved them into the road to slow cars down and have greater food-begging opportunities. Pretty clever indeed.

In an effort to keep the birds entertained (and off the roads), and traffic cones stationary, conservationists have set up jungle gyms by the roadside, with climbing frames, swings, ladders and flotation devices. They are even regularly rearranged to keep these novelty-seeking birds engaged, and scientists have also installed cameras so they can study the birds' behaviour remotely, as well as check that they're still using the gym!

#birds #parrots #conservation