The amazing and controversial Kea parrot is endemic to New Zealand. Keas are predatory parrots that hunt sheep.

Those who have visited the ski resorts of New Zealand once strive to get there again. They are attracted not by amazing comfort and wonderful ski slopes, but by Kea the parrot. Communication with this bird is unforgettable. The endemic species, listed in the Red Book, entertains tourists with its tricks and intelligence. Why is the Kea parrot called the Clown?

The predatory parrot got its name by analogy with the sounds it makes. By shouting “keeea” sharply and loudly, the parrot warns that he is close and will now begin to act. The birds are endemic, living only on the south island of New Zealand, in the highlands. Below lives another endemic, a species of parrots that do not fly, but only walk - parrots.

Kea parrot - predator

About the size of a raven, Kea parrots can cause destruction and entertain people. Predators are very different from their counterparts:

live in the mountains at an altitude of more than 1500 meters;
feed on plants;
eat dead animals;
hunt sheep and even kill them;
active at any time of the day;
surpassed even ravens in intelligence;
sociable with people, easily tamed;
they play funny;
mischievous and noisy;
destroy tourists' cars and housing;
steal and rob people of food.

The main problem for utility companies is to come up with garbage cans that parrots cannot break into and scatter their contents around. Kea has no equal in sophistication and power to break and open everything. For this they were awarded the title of Chief Hooligan.

Tourists are interested in the names of the predatory parrots from New Zealand. Scientists nicknamed them Nestor notabilis, local residents simply called them Nestor or Kea.

The length of the bird reaches 50 cm, and the wingspan is 90 cm

The Kea parrot is the size of a crow. The length of the bird reaches 50 cm. The wingspan is 90 cm. The color is amazingly beautiful. The bottom and top are completely different. The feathers on the head are different shades of brown. Then, starting from the neck, more and more olive and marsh colors appear in them, turning into green and blue tones on the tail. The main charm of the color appears when the bird opens its wings. Red-yellow fire sparkles from underneath them. The long flight feathers are black, with bright yellow stripes.

The legs are short and strong. 4 fingers are directed in pairs in different directions - forward and backward. They hold parrots on branches and other objects, and cling to the wool of sheep. Unlike their counterparts, Nestors feed on plants, food waste from garbage cans, dead sheep and subcutaneous fat from living animals. Other parrots prefer seeds and fruits.

Kea nest high in the mountains, looking for crevices and caves 2 - 5 meters deep. Females lay 2–4 eggs. Easily tolerating harsh winter conditions with strong winds, Nestors can hatch their offspring in winter.

In Europe, predatory parrots can be seen in city zoos:

Copenhagen;
Budapest;
Warsaw;
Moscow;
Voronezh;

According to unconfirmed scientific data, Kea live up to 50 years. Nestors easily adapt to captivity, are good-natured towards people and are very curious. They can look into an open car window and immediately in front of the owner they will begin to try everything with their beak, breaking, tearing off wipers, sealing rubber, and picking locks.

Kea parrots are known around the world as sheep killers. A parrot weighing up to 1 kg cannot cope with a large animal. But birds often become the culprits in the death of sheep. In winter, parrots feed mainly on the corpses of dead animals. When there is little food, they attack the living.

Kea hunt at night, descending from the mountains to pastures. They can walk on the ground for some time and pinch animals on the hind legs. Perhaps this is how they choose their prey, the weaker sheep.

Then, unexpectedly jumping onto its back, Kea tears out the fur on its back in the area of the kidneys. Having reached the skin, it begins to tear out the fat from under it. If the animal resists and throws off the rider, the parrot deftly jumps into place.

Parrots live in the highlands and come down to hunt at night

The death of an animal can occur from loss of blood. Often, in an attempt to get rid of the predator, sheep begin to run away in panic, trying to throw off the bird. They may fall exhausted or fall from a height. At the same moment, a whole flock swoops down on the victim and the feast begins. The birds are not interested in who killed the prey; they eat everything with loud screams.

Ornithologists have noticed that in any flock there are 2 - 3 ringleaders who organize attacks on animals, destruction of garbage cans, attacks on cars and tourist houses. Everyone else simply uses what they got, killed, destroyed. Under normal circumstances, bullies and major bullies cannot be identified.

The predatory parrot of New Zealand does not attack people as it does sheep. He can only take away a bag of food or turn a car around.

As soon as a man appears with a package, a couple of parrots swoop down on him. They circle, snatching the burden as they go. They act very coordinated. As soon as the food is in their hands or is scattered on the ground, the rest of the robbers swoop in and noisily begin to destroy the food. At the same time, they look as if all this was originally intended for them.

Kea parrot can take away a bag of food or turn a car around

Motorists try to keep their cars covered with durable covers. At first the parrot looks at everything with curiosity, then begins to tear off the windshield wipers. The others immediately come to his aid. Locks are pulled out, trim and handles are turned out. With wild laughter, Kea completely destroys the car in a few minutes. They drop everything that can be broken to break it, and take the fragments to their nests.

Similarly, Kea can attack a tourist's house and break everything. Cases have been recorded of parrots sneaking into the houses of local residents when no one was home. As a result of their visit, the owners found their house destroyed. The dishes are broken, the sheets are torn, the furniture is damaged, the upholstery is torn. If the Nestors were caught committing robbery, they calmly walked away, having fun and laughing, as if this was how everything should be.

Naughty playful bird

Tourists enjoy watching Kea. They love to frolic and play. Parrots perform amazing pirouettes in the air. They fly even in strong winds. They dance funny, hang upside down, looking out the windows. In winter, they tumble in the snow, slide down the slope of the roof from the ridge down, and put on whole performances.

Garbage cans are constant victims of parrots. They break them open, and dump all the trash on the ground. In New Zealand, the mayor's office has announced a competition to design a tank that feathered hooligans cannot open.

The first description of Kea is found in the book about New Zealand and its nature “The Way of the Kangaroo”. It was written by the famous zoologist and wonderful writer Gerald Durrell. The Englishman compared Kea with a bunch of fascists, they were so similar in their behavior as gentlemen, their pompous appearance and wooden marching gait.

At the same time, the zoologist admired the unbridled and mischievous birds. The book describes in detail what kind of performance the birds gave them. They ate pieces of bread and butter, bawled loudly, ran along gutters, hung upside down without ceasing to scream, and again ate bread in huge quantities. Then they began to ride, like children on a slide, from the roof, strictly observing the order. All this time they did not give up trying to tear the tarpaulin off the Land Rover. But it was strong and heavy, their successes were in vain.

In conclusion, Gerald Durrell, who has traveled a lot and studied the nature of different countries, writes with delight that Kea parrots are irresistible birds. He calls them unbridled, noisy and mischievous.

Keas are predatory parrots that hunt sheep

Keas are predatory parrots that hunt sheep

Kea parrots live in the mountains of New Zealand, above the forest belt. These parrots live in flocks. The nests are reliably protected from bad weather, each of them contains 4 eggs.

Accustomed to humans and extremely curious, the birds sometimes damage cars, their awnings and cabins in search of leftover food; They are attracted to garbage dumps and waste containers, and often dump the contents on the ground.

There are known cases of kea “attacking” people’s cars, the reason for which, again, is the desire to find something edible in the car’s interior. In addition, parrots may be interested in the contents of the backpack of tourists traveling in the habitats of these birds. Despite this, kea parrots still attract people who enjoy watching the birds play, tumbling in the snow or wallowing in freshly thawed puddles.

Small in size, slightly larger than a crow, the kea parrot (Nestor notabilis), usually found in the mountains and forests of New Zealand, is capable of killing an entire sheep. Usually kea feed on dead sheep in winter, but it happens that one or two parrots from a flock attack living sheep. These individuals are called “sheep killers” by shepherds. Parrots sit on the ground next to a potential victim, and then suddenly jump on its back and begin to peck out pieces of subcutaneous fat from it. Sometimes the kea does not immediately manage to cling to the sheep’s skin: the victim, resisting, tries to throw off the bloodthirsty bird. It rarely happens when a sheep is finally freed from the scourge of a kea; most often, animals attacked by the bird die from their wounds and become food for the rest of the parrots from the flock. The whole flock uses the prey. But mainly kea feed on insects and their larvae, worms, and fruits.

Previously, before the arrival of Europeans, there were no mammals in New Zealand, except for one species of rat and one species of bat. This means that kea did not know the taste of mammalian meat until that time. But due to a lack of other food (worms and insects), the parrots began to hunt sheep. Using their powerful claws and beaks, originally designed only for climbing tree bark, these birds began to tear open the animals' wounds. This phenomenon is called pre-adaptation, when embedded adaptations perform new functions.

Kea is forced to hunt sheep by the lack of other food (worms and insects) that this type of parrot usually feeds on.

Often, when shepherds find a dead sheep, they attribute its death to the bird. Because of this, kea parrots were exterminated for a long time. In fact, kea hunt sheep very rarely, and the death of sheep from attacks by predatory parrots is a very negligible percentage. People were persuaded to stop killing the birds in 1986, and the now endangered kea are now protected.

Another exceptional feature of these birds is that kea are the only parrots that live and breed at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level.

Text: Sofia Demyanets

An endangered species. It has been protected since 1970. In 1986, farmers were persuaded to stop killing kea in exchange for government cash compensation. Estimates of the entire population vary widely, from 1000-5000 to 15,000, and due to their concentration around human habitation the likelihood of inaccurate estimates is quite high. The species is listed in Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and in the International Red Book.

A parrot that hunts sheep and yet looks completely ordinary is the kea parrot. There are quite a lot of such parrots and they are really evil and to some extent dangerous. Read the continuation of the article about kea parrots.

Kea parrots are able to live both at home and in the wild. Kea quickly gets used to people and their home environment. These parrots live in New Zealand. They say that such parrots can live up to 50 years, but there are no official documents confirming this.

These are small animals that are 46 cm long and weigh 600-1000 grams. Such parrots live in one area and do not fly from place to place. Kea parrots live in the mountains, the height of which reaches 1600 meters. These are the only parrots of their kind that live so high.

Since they live near a populated area, they very often look into the backpacks of tourists and there are cases when they tear them.

But let's get back to the main thing. Indeed, they can eat not only berries and other nonsense, but also meat. This way they can eat those sheep that have died. There have also been numerous cases of attacks on sheep. When a kea decides to attack a sheep, it sits on the ground, then waits a moment and flies onto the sheep’s back. Ending up tearing off pieces of the sheep's flesh. Usually only one or two parrots attack while the others wait for the sheep to die. Usually such parrots cannot kill a powerful sheep; in such cases, the parrot will fly on its back and peck at it until it is full.

A little more kea parrot, click on the photo to enlarge:

Also, on top of everything else, such parrots are called smart parrots.

A bloodthirsty, calculating killer and a caring parent, a high intellectual and a playful prankster, such an ambiguous reputation haunts kea parrots. But it is known for sure that this is the smartest bird living on the planet. Cunning birds are able to cope with a complex mechanism in a matter of minutes. Kea, the only species of the genus Nestor that feeds on carrion. For his love of animal food, the parrot Nestor earned the hatred of local farmers and took an honorable place in the Red Book.

The predatory parrot is not afraid of people. Car trunks, uncovered house windows, and tourists' backpacks are favorite places for hooligans. The powerful, strongly curved beak of the bird is a formidable weapon. With its help, they break off car wipers, break out door locks, tear pillows and mattresses, tear out pieces of rubber from tires and car seals. “Treasures”, having fallen into the paws, are carefully stored in the crevices of the rocks.

The kea bird is capable not only of theft and robbery, but also of innocent pranks. Extreme ingenuity and high intelligence allow animals to brazenly take food from a person, throw snow on the head of an unwary guest, and ski from an icy roof. Amusing their relatives and people, birds play throughout their lives. Scientists have found that they make sounds similar to laughter, which cause a cheerful mood in the flock. And the drawn-out “keee-aa, keee-aa, keee-aa” saved ornithologists from much thought about what to name the new species.

Its inconspicuous coloration, from grayish-green to olive green, helps it hide among garbage containers. When heaps of waste fall to the ground, people realize that there was some trickery of kea here. But as soon as the curious bad guy takes to the air and spreads his wings, the witnesses gasp in delight. Performing acrobatic pirouettes in the air, the birds delight with the rich colors of their feathers. Fiery red, reddish tints captivate at first sight. These mischief makers reach gigantic proportions:

the weight of an adult bird reaches 1000 grams;
46-50 centimeters long;
The wingspan reaches 90 centimeters.

Habitat

The kea parrot is the only bird that lives at an altitude of 1500 meters high in the mountains. Inhabits the South Island of New Zealand and lives in flocks. They settle in beech forests, steep valleys, alpine meadows, not forgetting to visit people. In nature they live for about 15 years, living among rocks. In captivity they can be naughty for up to 50 years. Curious and brave animals lead a diurnal and nocturnal lifestyle.

Keas can often be seen at the zoo. They easily adapt to life at home, quickly getting used to people. Buying a bird is very difficult and expensive. To keep a freedom-loving individual, you need a large, reliably protected enclosure. It happened when parrots escaped, breaking complex locks.

Nutrition

Under natural conditions, they feed on plant tubers, seeds, flower nectar, fruits, insects and worms, which are obtained from under stones. Brawlers are omnivores. Living in the snowy mountains, where food is scarce in winter, the parrots tried the meat of fallen sheep. And since then they have not missed a moment to feast on animal food. This process in science is called re-adaptation, when individuals deviate from the factors inherent in nature.

Reproduction

Animals reach sexual maturity after 3 years. They build nests during storms and snowfalls, from July to January. Long before this event, females arrange a shelter for the chicks. She works for two years, lining rock crevices with down and twigs. Working tirelessly, it enlarges its burrows to 7 meters. During the breeding season, 4 - 6 eggs appear in the nest, boiling white.

The female incubates the chicks for three weeks. All this time the male looks after her, provides her with food and attention. When the chicks are born, the parents continue to care for them. The mother leaves the children after two months. The father brings food until the tiny babies learn to fly and get their own food. Caring attention, a secluded home away from prying eyes, gives little nestors a long life in the harsh mountains.

Kea - sheep hunter

Today the birds are on the verge of extinction. There are well-known cases of kea attacks on sheep. But this was enough to force farmers to destroy 130 thousand predatory parrots for 150 years. Only by the end of the 80s of the 20th century did local residents settle down, receiving compensation for the dead sheep.

The smartest animals have adapted to hunt in sophisticated ways. Waiting for the right moment, the bird sits calmly on the ground near the victim. As soon as you hesitate, the parrot suddenly jumps on the sheep’s back and tears out pieces of subcutaneous fat. With their powerful beak, kea cause unbearable suffering to the victim. Huge claws leave deep wounds on the sheep's body. Crazed animals die from blood loss and infection, falling from heights and breaking on rocks. Nestors hunt sheep only during the hungry winter months. Two to three adult parrots tear apart the animal's back, and the rest feed on the remains.

Intellectual abilities

For decades now, New Zealanders have been practicing their ability to make a mechanism that would be beyond the power of a kea. So far to no avail. Parrots can distinguish colors and solve logical problems with dexterity. Experiments have shown that birds have surpassed primates in skills. Possessing excellent memory, once birds receive food from human hands, they take it for granted. Feeding kea is strictly prohibited.

Legends and rumors surround these amazing creatures, which is why today kea parrots continue to attract more and more tourists.