Kea - Interactions With Humans

Interactions With Humans

The Kea's notorious urge to explore and manipulate makes this bird a pest for residents and an attraction for tourists. Called "the clown of the mountains", it will investigate backpacks, boots or even cars, often causing damage or flying off with smaller items.

People commonly encounter wild Kea at South Island ski areas. The Kea are attracted by the prospect of food scraps. Their curiosity leads them to peck and carry away unguarded items of clothing or to pry apart rubber parts of cars—to the entertainment and annoyance of human observers. They are often described as "cheeky". A Kea has even been reported to have made off with a Scottish man's passport while he was visiting Fiordland National Park.

Some people believe that feeding Kea has a detrimental effect on the birds' health and that the time savings resulting from a more calorie rich diet will give them more free time to vandalize cars, houses, and other human property. The idea is that the more time they spend foraging the less time they have to steal windshield wipers. The idea of human food being harmful to the birds' health is based on the assumption that the Kea will be fed foods that are unhealthy to human beings and thus also to this unique omnivorous parrot.

It should be noted, however, that the amount of additional free time due to any perceived reduction in foraging is very difficult to know and certainly has not been studied let alone proven and that the assumptions about nutritional value for various human foods are unproven even for humans and even less proven for this omnivorous parrot. A long term study of Kea stomach contents or the frequency of human feedings correlated with life span or some other measure of health would be a necessary first step in order to make any statement regarding the alleged harm of any particular food source. Assumptions about the particular foods commonly fed to the birds is also entirely speculative. If any Kea mortality can be shown to be due to a lack of food, then the supplementation of Kea diets with human food might even prove to be beneficial to the survival of this highly endangered species. The fact that the Kea population around ski resorts seems to be increasing may indicate that these intelligent birds themselves believe human food to be helpful to their survival. The birds' naturally trusting behaviour around humans has also been indicated as a contributing factor in a number of recent incidents at popular tourist spots where Kea have been purposely killed.