Keas: Characteristics, Behavior, Playfulness, Intelligence, Reproduction | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

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KEAS

Kea living around Arthur's Pass

Keas (Nestor notabilis) are lovable but troublesome New Zealand parrots. They have little fear of humans and sometimes toss rocks in the air and drum on roofs seemingly with the aim to waking up the humans inside. They also play by dive-bombing one another, playing keep-away or having tug-a-wars. Signs read in New Zealand read: "Keas (native parrots) are cheeky but when in the mood can also be destructive to soft parts of vehicles. New Zealand zoologist Judy Diamond told National Geographic, keas "try to eat almost everything, and they practice manic prey and explrtation." It is not uncommon of keas remove windshield wipers and rubber moldings and rip out wiring.

Keas are a species of large parrot in the family Strigopidae. Endemic to the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand, they sometimes feed sheep carcasses and may have once fed on the carcasses of moas. They liked to perch on the backs of sheep and in the past farmers accused them of being sheep killers and shot them. The belief that keas attacked sheep lead a price being put on their head. Bounty hunter killed 150,000 keas before the birds gained full protection in 1986. Today, keas are listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Their population is rapidly declining due to predation by introduced mammals, human-related conflicts such as car collisions and poisoning, and habitat loss. There are only around 3,000 to 7,000 keas remaining in the wild.

Keas are unusual parrots. They are the only truly alpine parrot in the world, and are found only in the mountains on the western side of South Island, New Zealand. They live in wooded valleys and southern beech (Nothofagus) forests that line sub-alpine scrublands at elevations of 600 to 2000 meters (1968.50 to 6561.68 feet). In summer, kea inhabit high elevation scrub and alpine tundra areas. In autumn, they move to higher elevations to forage for berries. In winter, kea move below the timberline. [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

Kea Characteristics

kea range

Keas are the size of large, plump crows. They have an average weight is 0.92 kilograms (around two pounds). Their average length is 48 centimeters (1,6 feet). They have lived 14.4 years in captivity and are endothermic (use their metabolism to generate heat and regulate body temperature independent of the temperatures around them) and are warm-blooded (homoiothermic, have a constant body temperature, usually higher than the temperature of their surroundings). [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

Sexual Dimorphism (differences between males and females) is present with keas: Females have shorter, less curved culmens (dorsal ridge of the upper jaw) and their peak is 12 to 15 percent shorter tha males. Males are about five percent longer and weigh about 20 percent more than females. Females weigh 0.66 to 0.97 kilograms (1.45 to 2.1 pounds)., Males weigh 0.84 to 1.14 kilograms (1.85 to 2.5 pounds).

Keas are generally dull bronze-green in color and have patches of scarlet under their wings. They have brownish-green heads and underparts with blackish edges. The outer webs of their primaries are dull blue, and the underwing coverts are orange red with yellow barring and notching that extends to the undersides of the flight feathers. The lower back is dull red in color, reaching to the uppertail coverts. The upper surface of the tail is bronze-green, and the under surface of the tail is dull yellow.

Like all parrots, keas have strong, sharp hooked beaks which are used to rip apart fruit, crack open nut shells and nibble at anything considered edible. But unlike other parrots keas are comfortable in cold weather. Keas have decurved upper bills (culmens). Their feather shafts project at the tip of the tail. Juveniles generally resemble adults, but have yellow eyerings and cere, an orange-yellow lower beak, and grey-yellow legs.

Kea Food, Hunting and Eating Behavior

Keas are opportunistic omnivores (eat a variety of things, including plants and animals). Animal foods include mammals, carrion, insects and mollusks. Among the plant foods they eat are leaves, roots, tubers, seeds, grains, nuts, fruit, nectar, pollen and flowers. The leaves, buds, and nuts of southern beeches (Nothofagus) are an especially important food for keas. Keas are scavenge trash heaps and particularly fond of flesh and bone marrow from carcasses. There are reports of keas preying on rabbits, birds and mice, and they have gained a reputation for attacking sheep, although they usually only prey on wounded or diseased sheep. [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

kea in the snow

The foods keas eat vary by season. In autumn kea feed on mountain beech leaves and buds and continue foraging on the roots, bulbs, fruit, seeds, and stems of other plants. Carcasses and rubbish are particularly important in winter, when plant foods are scarce. In spring keas eat mountain daisies (Celmisia) and dig in the soil for small plants and insects. In summer keas consume the nectar and pollen of flowering mountain flax (Phorium colensoi) and rata (Metrosideros). They also eat berries of coprosma (Coprosma) and snow totara (Podocarpus nivalis), and eat the leaves, fruit, seeds, and flowers of other plants. In summer they also eat beetle grubs, grasshoppers, and land snails.

Keas are the only known parrots that hunt. Describing a kea hunting a muttonbird, David Attenborough wrote in The Life of Birds, A kea "stalks through th warren of sheerwater’s best holes, bending down every now and then, head cocked... ithin the burrow, sheerwater chicks crouch silently in the darkness. But sometimes they call...if one does make same sound, the kea reacts swiftly...It starts to dig" and "reached into the hole...until at last it is able to grab the chick by its neck or leg and drag it out. The young bird...looks as fat and as vulnerable as a plucked duck and it squeals in distress. But not for long. The beak” of the kea “rips the young shearwater to pieces.”

Kea Behavior and Social Activity

Keas can fly but they don’t so much. They are arboreal (live mainly in trees), diurnal (active mainly during the daytime), motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), migratory (make seasonal movements between regions, such as between breeding and wintering grounds), social (associates with others of its species; forms social groups), and have dominance hierarchies (ranking systems or pecking orders among members of a long-term social group, where dominance status affects access to resources or mates). [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

Keas are very active in the morning. They rise early and begin calling and then forage until late morning. They generally roost during the middle of the day, and begin foraging again in the evening, sometimes until after dark, when they go to roost for the night on tree branches. The timing of these daily activities varies with the weather; Keas are fairly heat-intolerant and spend more time roosting on hot days.

Keas live in family groups. Groups of 30 to 40 birds often forage at popular feeding grounds, such as garbage dumps. Kea exhibit a variety of social behaviors. Their dominance hierarchies are not necessarily linear. For example, an adult male may be dominant to a subadult male, who is dominant to a juvenile male, who, in turn, is dominant to the adult male. Experiments on kea cooperation suggest that dominant individuals can force subordinates to cooperate in tasks that benefit only the dominant birds.

It is difficult for newcomers to gain admittance to the group because the dominant male in the group usually attacks them. The strategy that seems to work best for a newcomer wanting to be accepted is for it to fluff its feathers and bow its head like a juvenile. The dominate males generally don't attack young keas. [National Geographic Geographica, September 1991].

Kea Playfulness, Intelligence and Communication

Keas are highly intelligent, social birds. They have been described as birds of play that will use any object — a twig, a stone, a piece of rubber from a car — as a toy. They muck around in the snow, socialize with other keas, hassle hikers and display more curiosity than fear. Keas are also regarded as adaptable and quick learners who have adapted to new threats such as introduced predators by moving to places where the predators are not, such as higher up in the mountains. Keas have been observed throwing glass bottles to one another and then rolling them a road and chasing them. They are also fond of prying out the rubber seals around windows and mirrors of cars.

Keas in captivity have learned complicated tasks from observing others, though this ability has not been seen as vividly among kea in the wild. It has been hypothesized that life in an extreme alpine environment has encouraged kea to opportunistically explore their surroundings. They commonly investigate human belongings, and have destroyed ski lodge equipment as well as car accessories.

Keas communicate with vision and sound and sense using vision, touch, sound and chemicals usually detected with smell. They have a large repetoire of vocalizations, including the "kee-ah" flight call for which they are named. They also communicate by fluffing their head feathers into various "facial expressions" and by posturing.

Kea Mating, Reproduction and Offspring

Keas are polygynous (males have more than one female as a mate at one time) and engage in year-round breeding — once yearly, mainly between January and July but have been observed breeding at all times of the year, except late autumn. The number of eggs laid each season ranges from two to four. The time to hatching (incubarion) ranges from three to four weeks. The average fledging age is 13 weeks and the age in which they become independent ranges from 18 to 19 weeks. Females reach sexual or reproductive maturity as early as three years and males do so at four to five years. [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

Males fight for dominance during the mating season and the hierarchy is strict and difficult to change. As few as 10 percent of males get to mate in some certain years. Copulation is often initiated the female, who approaches the male and invites him to play or adopts a submissive posture and solicits preening. The male then feeds the female a regurgitated meal and mounts her.

Kea nest in burrows under rocks or among tree roots. Young are altricial, meaning they are relatively underdeveloped at birth. Pre-fertilization protection is provided by females. Pre-birth, pre-weaning and Pre-independence provisioning and protecting are done by females and males. There is an extended period of juvenile learning.

After a female kea lays her eggs, she sits on the nest and incubates them. During this time, she rarely leaves the nest and the male feeds her. After the eggs hatch, the male continues to feed the female, and she, in turn, she feeds the chicks. After a month, the male begins feeding the chicks himself. After the chicks fledge the male assumes sole responsibility for feeding them. He continues feeding them for up to six weeks. Afterward, the juveniles disperse from their natal area and travel together in flocks for two to three years before settling down.

Kea, Humans and Conservation

In addition being listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List keas are in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild), which lists species not necessarily threatened with extinction now but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled. [Source: Allison Poor and Rebecca Williams, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) |=|]

Keas are a BirdLife "restricted-range" species and are also protected within New Zealand by the Wildlife Act of 1953, the National Parks Act, the Animals Protection Act, and the Trade in Endangered Species Act. These laws prohibit the capture of kea on private and public lands, prohibit their mistreatment, and ban their export. However, parrot-smuggling is a lucrative business, and Keas are often captured and exported for the black market pet trade.

Keas are important for New Zealand's tourism industry. These birds have been called "the clown of New Zealand's Southern Alps" by the Department of Conservation, attracting crowds when they convene on automobiles. Keas traditionally have not been so popular with farmers. They have been known to attack sheep, with the wounds becoming infected with Clostridium bacteria. The bacteria can cause blood poisoning, which can be fatal to sheep. Keas that have harassed sheep have been relocated.

Keas can also be a pests in tourist areas, foraging at dumps, making a racket around cabins, destroying windshield wipers and weather stripping, shredded hiking boots and stealing things like sunglasses. The damage can cause serious problems, such as when the birds rip out car wiring and destroy ski-lift warning systems. (Diamond and Bond, 1999) |=|

The main known native predators of keas are New Zealand falcons (Falco novaezeelandiae). They have been observed attacking kea, but no one has reported a successful predation event. Kea remain alert for air attacks when foraging, and they band together to chase falcons that threaten a member of their group. Among the invasive species that threaten keas are stoats, weasels, cats and dogs. Rats may feed on eggs and young.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org , National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New Zealand Geographic, New Zealand Tourism, New Zealand Herald, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various books, websites and other publications

Last updated September 2025