Kea in flight
Human development in the alpine zone has reduced the sources of natural foods availalbe to kea. No wonder they find our fat-laden human foods so inviting! However, human foods encourage kea to come into closer contact with humans, often resulting in mischievous behaviour.
Feeding young kea also discourages them from looking for and learning about natural foods, and it can make them dependent on human scraps. Kea, like many other native birds, have suffered from predation by cats, stoats, ferrets and possums. Keas are particularly vulnerable to predation because they nest in holes in the ground that are easy to find and easy to get in to.
Evidence shows possums are eating kea. Researchers using nest-cameras have for the first time witnessed the gruesome reality inside defenceless kea nests invaded by stoats and possums in South Westland. Find out more abut possums eating kea.
DOC Scientific Officer Josh Kemp talks in this video about the kea research programme to adapt 1080 pest control to benefit kea populations in New Zealand's South Island.
The project is studying nesting success, and researching operational methods that provide the least risk and most benefit to kea. Possums, stoats and rats all destroy kea nests. New Zealand is one of the few countries where biodegradable 1080 poison can be used to control these pests.
Videos by Trakabat
View the Kea - Mountain Parrot documentary on NZ on Screen
DOC HOTline - 24 hour emergency number
Phone 0800 DOC HOTline (0800 362 468) to report:
Sick or injured wildlife Whale or dolphin strandings
Contacts