The Nestor genus of parrots includes two extant species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham Island, New Zealand.
KEA: King of the Mountain
The Kea is the world's only mountain parrot, living in the NZ Alps. As such, like many birds in hostile environments, it has become more intelligent in order to survive and tests indicate it has an intelligence level roughly equivalent to that of a four-year-old human: which is, frankly, amazing. They do show high levels of intellectual functionality. Experiments have shown they can quickly analyze new situations and come up with creative solutions to getting what they want - food!
They can also perform abstracted analysis and probability. In one experiment they were taught to associate one colour with food they really, really like and another with food that was rather 'Meh'. They quickly figured out that selecting the colours would let them get fed the one they wanted. The fun began when the colours were mixed in different proportions and they had to choose. With very little error, they chose the mix that offered the greater balance of the food they liked.
They are active: in the high country they are the bane of trampers who leave boots out of the huts overnight. Next morning their shoe laces may be neatly cut into small segments, or a boot may have gone entirely! They have long since learnt how to undo zips, buttons, buckles and velcro. When the can't undo something, they will use their sharp beaks to rather destructive effect.
They will slide down the corrugated iron roofs of huts and then scamper up to repeat - always chortling happily to each other. In the 1.4km Homer Tunnel, that gives access to NZ's famous Milford Sounds, they have long since learnt that it is profitable to parade and preen in front of tour buses to get tasty treats (not recommended!). They will car surf up and down through the tunnel and call out to each other as they pass.
They can be difficult to spot because of the excellently camouflaged plumage that blends in well with the rocks and bushes. When they raise their wings however, the plumage is bright orange/red which is likely an aid to finding each other in the often murky conditions of the NZ high country.
They get a bad reputation as their curiosity and playfulness leads them into mischief. They will remove rubber trim and windscreen wipers, undo screws and bolts, and easily open garbage bins to create a mess as they toss aside any low-calorie food in favour of energy-intense foods like KFC and MacDonalds. One colleague came back to her car to discover that a Kea had discovered how to undo the caps on tyre inlet valves and apparently liked the sound of escaping air. Thus, three of her tyres were quite flat. That's the kind of thing that happens if you give a four-year-old a beak, claws and no sense of responsibility!
KAKA- Lord of the Forest
Cousin to the Kea is the Kaka. It inhabits the comparatively luxuriant forests of the lowlands, often red beech, which goes some way to explaining their difference in plumage. It is also slightly smaller.
While definitely not stupid, they don't need to be as smart as their Kea cousins, and are also much more laid back. They don't get into mischief and generally ignore humans rather than interacting with them as aggressively as the Kea do. They will stay stock still for some time, and one can get quite close to them. They weave nests from flax bushes and it was in such a plant that I caught this one.
