Species Fact Profile: Kea (Nestor notabilis)

Kea

Nestor notabilis (Gould, 1856)

Range: New Zealand (South Island)
Habitat: Alpine Forest and Scrub
Diet: Shoots, Fruits, Nectar, Seeds, Birds, Carrion
Social Grouping: Loosely Structured Flocks, Pairs
Reproduction: Monogamous with long-term pair bonds.  Nest in rock crevices, logs, hollow trees, or other cavities.  1-5 eggs are laid between July and January and are incubated by the female for 22-24 days.  The male gathers food for the female while she sits on the eggs.  Chicks leave the nest at about three months old, are independent at five months old, and are sexually mature at four years old.  A single clutch is usually raised per year.
Lifespan: 20 Years (Wild), 50 Years (Captivity)
Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered, CITES Appendix II

• Body length 45-48 centimeters, wingspan 1 meter.  Males weigh 900-1100 grams, females weigh 700-900 grams
• Olive green plumage with orange on the rump and the undersides of the wings and blue iridescence on the primary flight feathers.  The beak is black
• Name "kea" is derived from the most common call the parrots make
• Kea are known to occasionally harass sheep to the point of mutilation, perching on their backs and ripping out chunks of fat and meat.  This behavior, while uncommon, has led to heavy persecution - until 1971, bounties were paid on keas to protect sheep
• Threatened by introduced mammalian predators, especially weasels and cats.  Keas are vulnerable because they often make their nests on or near the ground
• Natural curiosity of keas leads them to ingest objects which they should not (such as lead), get hit by cars, and engage in behavior which may annoy or anger humans (often by damaging property), resulting in their being persecuted
• Extremely intelligent, have been documented preparing and using tools and demonstrate considerable problem solving abilities.  Well known for interacting with tourists, sometimes stealing possessions or damaging parked vehicles.
• Despite historic conflicts with humans, keas are today (mostly) beloved in New Zealand - they previously were on the New Zealand $10 bill (replaced by another endangered New Zealand bird, the blue duck), star in a series of children's books, and are the name of a rank of Boy Scout in New Zealand

Zookeeper's Journal: I knew a bird keeper once who would talk non-stop about her dream exhibit.  It would be a large aviary for kea - with a car in the middle of it.  Every month or so, she would get a new clunker donated, swap it out for the old one, and then sit back and watch with maternal pride as her flock of keas would demolish it before the eyes of horrified zoo guests.  She was never able to pull this off, but I salute the ingenuity behind it.  Kea are notorious for their destructive genius - it's part of the reason (coupled with New Zealand's strict protections for native birds) that they never really made it on the pet trade, compared to many other parrots.  In many ways, they are a very un-parrot-like parrot - the only alpine parrot, as well as (to the best of my knowledge) the most carnivorous of the parrots.  I suppose it's just as well that my friend never got her kea exhibit - she might have decided that an old car wasn't enough enrichment, and that what the birds really needed was a live sheep or to.  That would have been an unsettling scene...