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Kea Keas (Nestor notabilis), found only in the mountains of South Island, are in decline.  Population estimates in the past 20 years have varied greatly. A nine-year study of Keas in the Nelson area during the 1990s showed a healthy population and good reproductive success. Fifty-nine per cent of the Kea chicks hatched during the study period fledged. Keas are very highly intelligent birds, inquisitive and resourceful, also fearless.  I could imagine them killing a rat if it ventured into their nest. These endearing parrots are notorious for the damage they do to vehicles or any property left lying around in their territory. They would venture into ski resorts and make a nuisance of themselves. However, in recent years a “Don’t feed the Kea” campaign might be responsible for decreasing numbers on the ski-fields, leading them to seek food elsewhere. Some people are doubtful about this and believe the parrot might be declining. Mike Bennett, writing in The Press, a Christchurch newspaper, said that he had spent four days helicoptering around the headwaters of South Westland rivers and neither saw nor heard a Kea. On October 25 2006, he wrote: “I had been in this country 35 to 40 years ago, when Keas in this area were numbered in their hundreds.”  He hinted that aerially dispersed pesticide 1080, to kill introduced vermin, could be responsible for the lack of Keas.

On June 5 2008, The Press published an article by Giles Brown who said that the Kea Conservation Trust was worried about the lack of knowledge relating to Kea populations.  The Trust was set up in 2006 to help to conserve the Kea. It carries out twice-annual surveys — but trying to estimate the population has proved extremely difficult, partly due to the often inaccessible habitat and because of its ability to blend into the landscape. Factors that might be causing their decline include lead used in buildings, pressure of habitat, the use of 1080 poison and competition with introduced predators.

A study more than ten years ago indicated that starvation was one of the biggest causes of death in Keas. No wonder they visit ski camps to look for food … A factor that should not be overlooked, as in the case of the Kakapo, is global warming. This would affect the Kea’s alpine habitat and further reduce its food sources. According to research published by
P Donald in 2007, another factor is that the sex ratio is heavily skewed towards males, with an estimated two out of three birds of this gender.

The Kea is the most controversial of all New Zealand’s wonderful parrots. It earned such a bad reputation among farmers as a sheep killer that it was not fully protected until 1986. In that year, high country farmers gave up their right to shoot Keas in exchange for the government investigating all reports of sheep attacks and removing problem birds. Today the Kea is listed as a nationally endangered species by the Department of Conservation.

Private reserves and covenants
It seems that the fate of some of New Zealand’s parrots is hanging in the balance. However, looking at the broader conservation picture, there are encouraging developments. Private conservation initiatives are being developed all over New Zealand. Various projects involve fencing large areas at enormous expense, clearing them of predators and exotic trees and replanting with native trees. In such private reserves, the Kaka for example, approaching extinction elsewhere on the mainland, can survive and breed.

About 70% of New Zealand’s land is privately owned and most threatened habitats are on private lowlands. In 1977 the Queen Elizabeth National Trust was established to protect open spaces. It was hoped that people would donate land under covenant, while still retaining ownership and management, in return for assistance with fencing, pest control, etc. Many people said this would never work. But they were wrong! There are now 3,000 covenants covering 100,000 hectares.

In this way large areas of land, beyond the means of the Department of Conservation, are being conserved in perpetuity. Increasingly it is apparent that New Zealanders want to protect their unique wildlife – and often at their own expense. What better hope could there be for the future?

Status of New Zealand’s Parrots

Kakapo                                      Critically Endangered
Forbes’ Parakeet                      Endangered
Orange-fronted Parakeet       Endangered
Kaka                                            Vulnerable
Kea                                              Vulnerable
Antipodes Island Parakeet     Vulnerable
Yellow-fronted Kakariki          Near Threatened 
Red-fronted Kakariki               Not listed

Rosemary Low has been passionately involved with birds since she was five years old – it was a pet duck that she pushed around in a doll’s pram! As a child she kept and bred Budgerigars, and at the age of 16 she was given her first parrot, a Grey. Neotropical parrots and the nectar-feeding species, the lories, have always been Rosemary’s special interest.

Rosemary has had more than 20 books published, her first being The Parrots of South America, and her two works on lories (published in 1977 and 1998) became the definitive works on these birds.  Her books have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and the Czech language.

During nearly eight years in the Canary Islands, Rosemary was curator of two of the world’s largest parrot collections, Loro Parque in Tenerife, where she had more than 200 parrot species in her care, and Palmitos Park in Gran Canaria.

Rosemary Low has travelled widely, speaking at avicultural conventions in many countries and observing more than 100 species of parrots in the wild, in more than 30 countries.  As a professional writer, she has had hundreds of articles published in avicultural magazines worldwide.