Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS

THE PARROTS

Kea Parrot

A slightly larger and otherwise very different bird is its near relative, the Kea or Mountain Parrot (N. notabilis), which frequents the barren rocky summits of the snowy mountains of the South Island at elevations up to six thousand feet or well above the forests. The color is a dull olive-green, each feather edged with black, while the area above the tail, under wing-coverts, and axillaries are orange-red, and there is more or less of blue on the wings, and the bluish orange tail has a broad band of blackish brown near the tip.

During the warmer months the Keas frequent the rocky gullies and peaks with stunted vegetation, where they secure their food of insects, berries, fruits, and nectar, but with the advent of cold weather and when all is concealed beneath a mantle of snow and ice, they are forced to lower levels, and so they discovered some years ago the out-stations of back-country sheep herders. About these stations they found it easy to pick up a living of scraps and offal, and when a sheep was killed they picked the flesh from the head and other discarded portions, not disdaining to make a meal off the sheepskins hung up to dry.

But from the office of scavenger they assumed the role of executioner and shortly developed the habit of killing sheep for themselves. Coming in flocks, the birds single out a sheep at random and alighting on its back tear away the wool and pick a hole in the flesh until the fat about the kidneys, of which they are greedily fond, is exposed. The animal, of course, succumbs and after a few relished bits the birds turn their attention to another victim.

The Keas have greatly increased in numbers since the introduction of sheep raising, and so serious have their depredations become that it has been necessary to abandon the runs in some cases, and a price has been put upon their heads. They are also known to attack horses.

In their original state they are described as very tame, inquisitive birds, easily approached and knocked over by a stone or other missile, and they are frequently caught by the settlers exposing a fresh sheepskin as bait. Their ordinary note is a mewing cry, but they also utter a”short whistle, a chuckle, and a suppressed scream, scarcely distinguishable from the notes of the Kaka.”The nest is placed in the crevices of rocks and the eggs are larger and rougher than those of the former species.

 

 

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