Kea (bird species)

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Kea
Kea filtered.jpg

Kea ( Nestor notabilis )

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Parrots (Psittaciformes)
Family : Strigopidae
Tribe : Nestorini
Genre : Nestor Parrots ( Nestor )
Type : Kea
Scientific name
Nestor notabilis
Gould , 1856
Keas in the snow
Kea examining a backpack
A kea nibbles on a car's door seal

The Kea ( Nestor notabilis sometimes), mountain parrot called, is a threatened with extinction bird from the genus of Nestor parrots ( Nestor ), of the family of Strigopidae counts.

Appearance

The approximately 46 centimeter long kea is relatively inconspicuous in color and has predominantly olive-green plumage. The under wing-coverts and the rump are orange in color. The bird has a rather slender, hook-shaped bill. Male specimens have a body weight of 900 to 1100 grams, while the females are around 20% lighter and have a body weight between 700 and 900 grams.

distribution

The home of the Keas covers an area of about four million hectares along the alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand , from Farewell Spit in the north of the west coast down to the region around Waitutu in the southwest of the southern coast and in the mountains of the Kaikoura Ranges in Northeast of the South Island.

The kea is one of the few parrot species that live outside the tropics and can also hibernate in snow-covered regions, but in the winter months, when food is scarce in the mountains, the birds are sometimes driven to the plains.

The New Zealand Department of Conservation estimates the population of the keas to be between 3,000 and 7,000.

Diet and Lifestyle

The keas are omnivores that prefer to feed on plants and animal products, such as fresh shoots, fruits, leaves, nectar and seeds, and dig in the ground for insect larvae and plant tubers , and in the Kaikoura Ranges they also hunt Shearwater nestlings ( petrels ) do. Keas also feed on carrion from deer , chamois , tahr and sheep when the opportunity arises.

Keas fell into disrepute among New Zealand farmers as early as the middle of the 19th century because they ate dead sheep and were also seen tearing open the fur of live sheep on their backs in order to get their body fat and also eating fat from the kidney region. which quickly earned them the reputation of "sheep killers". The ornithologist JR Jackson assumed as early as 1962 that Keas attacked sick or injured sheep, but also made it clear that the number of sheep rips had been exaggerated by the farmers in public. A 1993 video confirmed a scientific assumption that the birds use their strong beaks and claws to cut the skin on the sheep's back and eat the fat underneath. Although the keas do not kill the sheep directly, the sheep can die from it - depending on the size of the wound. Attacks by the keas on rabbits, dogs and even horses have also been anecdotally reported.

Keas are crepuscular birds. They are considered to be particularly curious and playful. “Examining” objects that tourists bring with them and leave unguarded is often not without damage. Parked cars are particularly affected. Here, among other things, rubber seals on doors and windows and the paintwork are often processed with their powerful beaks. Young animals in particular enjoy it a lot. Keas are considered to be very intelligent birds. They are able to use tools , see their own reflection , and have a very good technical understanding. They manage to open closed backpacks and garbage cans without any problems.

When keas find their partner, they usually live together for life. From the age of four, females lay between one and five white eggs, 39 mm in circumference and 43 mm in length, per clutch and incubate them for between 22 and 26 days. A young animal starts its flight attempt after about 90 days and leaves its parents' nest between 100 and 150 days of age. Keas live to be up to 22 years old.

Danger

Because of the conflict with farmers who blamed keas for killed sheep, a bounty was paid by the New Zealand government for killed keas from the late 1860s. This resulted in an estimated 150,000 keas being killed by the early 1970s. Even today, unknown numbers of these birds are still being killed. Carcass studies show that birds die from gunshot wounds from shotguns, from blunt injuries and from poisoning.

Ermines , possums , cats and rats represent a further threat to the keas, which plunder their clutch and thus seriously disturb the offspring of the birds. The fight against predators introduced by Europeans shows that a good protection of clutches can be achieved, of which up to 70% are then successfully incubated.

Because keas are distributed over a large area, it is difficult to determine a reliable number of individuals. However, studies show that the population size is probably comparatively small. The estimated population varies depending on the source from 1,000 to 5,000, from 3,000 to 7,000 or even up to 15,000 specimens. The IUCN states the population of the keas as around 4,000 adult animals and has therefore put the birds on the Red List of animals worthy of protection.

literature

  • JR Jackson : Do Keas Attack Sheep? . In: Notoris . Volume 10, Number 1 . Ornithological Society of New Zealand , Wellington 1962, pp. 33–38 (English, online [PDF; 2.6 MB ; accessed on September 15, 2019]).

Documentary film

  • Berry Pain among others: Kea - Mountain Parrot . (Video) NZ On Screen , 1993, accessed on September 15, 2019 (English, in five parts; 13:15 min, 13:11 min, 13:29 min, 11:14 min and 1:03 min).
  • Super brain in plumage. (Video 45:00 min) Clever birds in a duel. Arte, October 3, 2013, accessed September 15, 2019 .
  • Volker Arzt, Angelika Sigl: Secret Heroes - Keas in New Zealand. (Video 50:00 min) Arte, August 30, 2018, accessed on September 15, 2019 (English).

Web links

Commons : Kea ( Nestor notabilis )  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Kea . Nestor notabilis Gould, 1856. New Zealand Birds Online , 2013, accessed September 15, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c Kea . Department of Conservation , accessed September 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Jackson : Do Keas Attack Sheep? . In: Notoris . 1962, p.  33-38 .
  4. ↑ Pain ao: Kea - Mountain Parrot - Part 4. (Video 11:14 min) NZ On Screen , 1993, accessed on September 15, 2019 (English, from 3:00 min).
  5. ↑ Nestor Parrots. The animal lexicon, accessed January 5, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Tobias Rahde: Levels of mental representation in Keas (Nestor notabilis) . Ed .: Free University of Berlin. 2014, p. 100–128 ( online [PDF; accessed September 15, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Kea . Breeding and ecology. New Zealand Birds Online , 2013, accessed September 15, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b Kea - Human Conflict . Kea Conservation Trust , accessed September 15, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Kea . In: IUCN Red List . International Union for Conservation of Nature , October 1, 2017, accessed September 15, 2019 .