In the high Sierra, you have to worry about bears and marmots stealing your stuff. In New Zealand you have to worry about these guys. There are stories of them taking people’s wallets, cameras & passports if they’re left out for them to snatch. I talked to one guy who said he saw a Kea grab someone’s cell phone, then fly out over a two thousand foot canyon and drop it right in full sight of the former cell phone owner : p
The Kea is the world’s only alpine parrot. They were nearly hunted to extinction because they were rumored to attack sheep at night, leaving wounds that would later get infected and eventually kill the sheep. This was eventually confirmed, but was very rare. The NZ government put a bounty on the Kea and over 150,000 were killed in the years before 1970. They were given full protection in 1986 when their numbers had fallen to between 1000 – 5000 birds. Current population estimates have them between 3000 – 7000 individuals.
Love the Kea’s !!!!!!! there is nothing quite like some prehistoric bird still causing havoc. You guys sure like the high altitudes. But if going up gets you to see the amazing BLUE skies it is sure worth the hike. Every place seems to top the one before [ no pun intended] Keep the photos and remarks coming – enjoying them all. love to you both, Mom
Thanks for following along with us! Looks like we’re off to Australia on the 22nd. New Zealand was amazing, but the extensive grasslands were starting to get to our allergies! Hopefully Oz will be less … grassy ; p
We never saw the cheeky kea parrot when we were there; a major disappointment, but with that said, I’m glad you did. I hope Thunder Canary didn’t have any close encounters with the cheeky kea. Btw what’s to happen to Thunder Canary? If it’s too sensitive a topic, forget about it.
Yes, the Kea were awfully cool. Made us laugh every time we saw them : ) Will be a different story when we’ll have to part ways with the Canary … tears will definitely be shed. We’ll be very proud to know that it will faithfully ferry a new pair of travelers through this beautiful country tho : D