Kea Bird Research (Long) Weekend

           I must say that I feel very blessed to have had such a great weekend. We left at 9 am on Friday morning and drove 4 and 1/2 hours past Queenstown and Glenorchy on the West Coast to Mt. Aspiring National Park. The research team consisted of Nick, the PhD Zoology student who was running the whole study, Rosie, a kiwi Anthropology senior, and myself. Nick is from Switzerland originally but has been in NZ doing his PhD for a year so far, returning to study after a visit 6 years ago. Fortunately for myself, he was raised in the French-speaking part of Switzerland in the southwest (north eastern areas speak German, about 60% of the country, and southeastern regions speak Italian, and German is used throughout the government). So, I was able to practice my french with him throughout the 5 day period where all we really did was hike, catch Kea, and talk. The trip was quite a success, not only because of the beautiful weather that we experienced and the gorgeous valley that was our home for 5 days, but we ended up catching 12 Keas and exceeding Nick's "dream goal" of ten!

          The hike to Shelter Rock Hut, where we ended up staying the whole weekend due to high concentration of Kea in the area, took about 5 hours. The next morning, I was woken at 6 am by a call that served as my alarm clock for the next 4 mornings- (with french accent) "Matthew! I got one!". This first morning, an old man who was also sleeping in the hut jumped out of bed at the sight of Nick dangling a Kea from a rope and screamed at Nick to "let it go! its just a bloody bird!" thinking that we were catching Kea for amusment. Nick explained himself, as he had to do many times throughout the trip, but it was nice to see that the kiwis were all very protective of their wildlife.

          The first time I held the Kea I was too cold and tired to understand how lucky I was, but as I continued to handle the birds, I realized how beautiful they were and found a growing fascination for the birds' anatomy and lifestyles. Kea birds are indigenous parrots to New Zealand. They are an endagered species, and very little is known about them, but it is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 5,000 in all of NZ. They have gorgeous color in their feathers, with a forest green base, turqoise and light blue fade on the tail and wing feathers, and a rainbow of red and yellow below the wings. Holding the birds by the neck/beak and feet allowed us to control the brids completely without putting them in danger or ourselves in danger of getting bit! Rosie did get bit and a Kea really scraped her pinky apart, causing her to become a bit timid around the birds and allowing me hold all of the birds as Nick completed his examinations. It was very interesting to feel and see the anatomy of the bird's beak, head, and wierd parrot tongue, specifically in regards to how the hard beak (made of cells similar to those in finger nails) attaches to the birds skull and skin. The reptilian feet and claws were also very interesting, and I was grateful to find that they did not use their claws to attack prey, or myself, as birds of prey do.

           It was not until after I had agreed to help Nick that I realized that his research related very closely to my own studies. His purpose for catching the birds and taking their blood was to study the population genetics of the Kea. He is studying the birds' DNA to determine where the birds might have migrated from, and how they have seperated and clustered as they have throughout the islands. In the end, he would  like to create a sort of lineage tree using differences in DNA to characterise the Kea populations. He will use this same information to study the social structure of the Keas. For instance, since we caught many birds within one group,. he can sutdy their DNA to determine how those within the group are related to eachother. This will help him to understand the social patterns amongst the birds. Despite their popularity and prevelance in NZ, there has not been many studies conducted on the Kea, so Nick is pioneering this field in a way. After doing this for a year, Nick can perfectly perform a Kea call (though they have many, many different, loud noises), and from my observations, he has become obsessed with the birds to the point of halucinating and hearing Kea calls in his head all day and night. All of his research is being done to contribute to knowledge useful for conservation of Kea.

           Here is what happen upon capturing a Kea:
1. Nick would hand the bird to me and preapre his equipment. I would grab it under the beak and secure its head and grab its legs. Depending on its degree of shock, the bird would or would not poop on my socks.
2. Nick would clamp 3 aluminium bands of 3 different colors on its legs- 2 on one leg and 1 on the other. This was done for the department of conservation and allowed for hundreds of combinations with which to identify the birds for monitoring.
3. Nick would take measurements of the bird's beak length and width, and head size. Male or female was determined by beak size (males having larger beaks)
4. I would place the bird on its back and nick would take blood from a vien under the bird's wing at the "elbow". This blood will be analyzed for his research and for disease evaluation.
5. Nick would pluck quail feathers from the bird (containing lots of cells to be analyzed for disease information) located under heavy down feathers on the chest of the bird (I now understand why they dont get cold).
6. The bird would be weighed with a spring weight, hanging from the noose.
7. The bird would be let go, dwaddle around looking at us like "what just happened, where am I? Is this heaven?" and then scamper away and fly off.

       Overall the trip was amazing. I learned very much, got to live in a gorgeous valley for 5 days, made some great new friends, got to hang with Kea birds and help with conservation efforts. During the day, when the Kea were away, we went on awesome day hikes, as most of the Kea-catching was done from 6-10am and 6-9pm. It did help that transportation, lodging, and dinners, were paid for by Nick's reasearch money, but that was just a bonus, hehe. I was plopped back into reality when I arrived back in Dunedin, and have been getting some work day, though I have been hearing Kea calls in my head all day. Here are some pictures I have taken to help share the experience. Enjoy, cheers, and love to all!

Matthew





Road to Rees Valley



Beautiful waterfall on the way to Shelter Rock Hut

These two are of Rosie holding Kea

The yellow around the eye and on the beak show that it is a juvenile



Next few are of myself holding Kea for photograph identification



Naturally, juveniles were much easier to catch- curiosity always caught the Kea

The valley where we stayed for 5 days

Waterfall on the mountain side

Climbing up toward the peaks

Nice view south down valley

My favorite rock face in the valley during sunset

Kea soaring

Nice shot of Nick during sunrise on the prowl for Kea

Earnslaw Glacier

Kea just after release- you can see the yellow and red bands on his left leg

Nick sneaking up on a group of Kea

Good shot of the last Kea we caught, Rosie in the background

Scene from the trail to the valley





Full moon on Sunday night that lit up the entire valley

Bridge to Shelter Rock Hut

Nick sneaking up on an unsuspecting Kea

The noose device used to catch the Kea, and the speaker that was used to send Kea calls through the valley

Posing atop the mountainside, Earnslaw Glacier in background

Nick climbing down to the Valley after day hike- Kea catching bamboo stick in pack