Page 73 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

KEA

Kaka (left) means
parrot and riki
(right) means little.

De Roy/M nden/FLPA;
Gerald & Buf Corsi/Visuals Unlimited/Getty; T ui De Roy/Minden/FLPA; Museum of New Zealand T e Papa T ongarewa

eft: Andrew Wa ms ey/naturep .com; Andy T rowbr dge/naturep .com; T u

Call of the Kea

From top: kea are
‘Kea’ is derived from the ancient unusual in that they
Maori name for these alpine parrots, actively seek out
and interact with
and – like many Maori words – does
humans; the birds
not end in an ‘s’ when plural. It is form pair bonds and
thought to be a reference to the are territorial, usually
birds’ distinctive ‘kee-ah’ calls (which occupying an area
2
of 4km ; kea nest in
you can listen to at xeno-canto.
burrows under trees
org). However, these sociable birds or rocks. A single
also have a wide repertoire of other clutch of eggs is laid
between July and
C ockw se from bottom whinnies, as well as communicating October and the
vocalisations, including squeals and
chicks hatch after
by body language and even feather
four weeks.
posturing and displays.

November 2018 BBC Wildlife 73