Kea: The parrots of our mountains.

Where they live.  Kea only live in the mountain’s of the South Island of New Zealand.  That make’s it native to us.  They are one of the few alpine parrots in the world.

Keas homes.  Female kea build there nest with dried moss, ferns, leaves and rotten wood.  You will find keas nests in hollow trees or in between three rocks.  Kea egg’s are laid between July and January.

Baby kea.  A kea’s egg is half the size of a chicken’s egg.  Three weeks after the egg is laded kea chicks will hatch.  Most young kea peck claw and wrestle each other.  Young kea are very playful.

Young kea.  When they leave young kea stay close to there parents plus they help them to find food and fly.  After four months young kea leave their parents to join the flock.  The older kea in the flock help feed the young ones until they are about four years old.

What Kea like to eat.  Like us kea are omnivore’s.  An omnivore is an animal that eats fruit, vegetable’s and meat.  Kea’s find their food by scavenging and hunting.  Kea always taste there food with their tongues before eating.

Meat.  Like hawks, Kea like to eat animals killed by cars on the road side.  It’s hard to believe but a group of kea can hunt down a live sheep!  They also catch other animals such as rabbits and other birds and chick’s!

Other stuff they eat.  Kea also eat plant’s, seed’s, flower’s, root’s and fruit’s  In zoo’s kea are very fond of butter, nut’s, apple’s, carrot’s, grape’s, mangoes, fig’s, bread and pasta’s.  Like to eat rubbish left over by people.

Communication  The call kea most often make is what they are named after. ‘Kee-a’.  When danger is near kea alert each other with a warning call.  Kea screech when they fly.  When kea are looking for a mate or a neighbor they talk to each other by warbling.

Other interesting facts.  Male kea are bigger than female kea.  Kea like to play by swing from branch to branch, throw sticks and stones and roll around on there backs.  There are about 10,000 kea in new Zealand.  Kea feed early and late in the day.  Kea don’t have a very good sense of smell.