Photo credit: Kevin Moore
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Kea Conservation at Christchurch Tahr Show

Kea were a feature at this years National Tahr Show hosted by the Game and Forest Foundation of NZ. Melanie White set up the Kea Conservation Trust stall which was manned by KCT volunteers Laura Young (pictured with Dr. Lorne Roberts), Cynthia Muir, Karen Banwell and Melanie White.
The general concensus among hunters was that they see a whole lot less kea in the mountains now than in the 70's and 80's. Most say that in the 80's was when they noticed a dramatic decline.
Thank you to our hosts Game and Forest NZ and our keen volunteers! See you all next year!
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Summer Survey 2011 - All go!
The KCT has now secured funding for the 3rd year of the intensive Summer Survey from the NZ Lottery Grants Board. This will enable us to look at all three study areas once again (Nelson Lakes, Arthurs Pass and Borland, Fiordland).
For more information on the progress of this project, please visit our Kea Research Projects - Summer Survey page in the menu.
Thank you Lotteries!
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New Web Pages:
Volunteers Page
Do you have a hidden talent you would like to share with us, or do you have access to equipment or resouces that we could use from time to time?
We are always on the look out for new people who can help us out!
For information on what key positions and jobs we could use help with , please click on this link to our Volunteers page.
Nest Monitoring 2009 -2011
This page provides information and photos on our nest monitoring research to support the summer survey population surveys. For more information please visit our Kea Research Projects - Nest monitoring page
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Payroll Giving - help us reach our funding targets!
Payroll giving is a voluntary scheme for employers and employees who are wanting to donate to registered charities with donor status, such as the Kea Conservation Trust.
For any donations made through Payroll Giving, you will receive an immediate 33% tax rebate.
For more information on where to go to set this up, please visit our Support Us - Supporters page.
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Updated web pages
For kids - Kea Explorers
This page provides has been updated and includes information for kids on the following:
Would you like to help kea? Would you like to find out more about them so you can tell your friends and family? Do you have a pet bird or caged animal at home you would like to keep healthy and happy?
If so, visit our Kea Explorers page and learn more!
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New Kea Husbandry Manual
The final draft of the new husbandry manual for kea has now been completed and loaded onto our website (Kea Information – Captive Population page).
The new standards are based on current scientific information available on the species.
The manual provides in-depth background information on the species to aid in best practice management of kea in captivity and covers enclosure requirements, enrichment, training, advocacy, health, feeding and reproduction.
This document is the result of almost one year of work donated by the Kea Conservation Trusts Chair, Tamsin Orr-Walker. It is free to access however, we would appreciate any donation, no matter how small, to the Trust to help continue such work in the future.
If you would like to support work such as this carried out freely by the KCT, please visit our Support Us page for details.
Photo credit: Orana Wildlife Park
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Chicken Little is still going strong!
Chicken Little’s satellite transmitter is still sending out information each month and as of the middle of July was still in the Nelson Lakes area on Robert Ridge not far from where he was initially caught in January 2009! This is a return trip of over 90km from his natal area.
We are hoping to sight and recatch him during our nest monitoring project in September and December this year.
To view maps of Chicken Little’s progress over the last 18mths visit our Satellite Tracking page
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2010 Membership - (1st April - 31st March 2011)

Help us to continue helping kea by becoming a member of the Kea Conservation Trust! Your membership will help us with our running costs and provide support to help secure funding.
All members will recieve our full colour annual newsletter which is due to be printed in time for the new membership year (April). This year the newsletters production has been sponsored by Franklin Zoo Wildlife Sanctuary (thank you Franklin!)
If you would like to renew your membership or join up as a new member for the 2009-2010 period, please visit our Support Us - Join Now page. If you are unsure as to your status, you may visit our Support Us - Members page to check or contact us via the contact details in the Menu.
Photo Credit: Vicky Nall
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The State of our Planet 
This page has a variety of links (inclusive of BBC series links), resources, and information on the broader human impacts on our planet.
These impacts affect all biodiversity on our planet and impact on fragile ecosytems such as alpine environments that species such as kea rely on to survive.
This information is updated on a regular basis.
Well worth a look!
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Projects for 2010 - Can you help us with funding?
We urgently need funding to continue our work with kea this year. If you or your organisation can help out with vital funding for the following projects, please contact us at the Trust (refer to the contact details in the menu to your left):
- 2011 Population research - Summer survey (3rd year) - this project has now been funded by NZ Lottery Grants Board - Thank you!
- 2010 Winter survey and advocacy drive - this project has been funded by Hubbards Foods Ltd and the KCT - Thank you!
- Continued monitoring of our satellite kea - this project has been funded by NZ Lottery Grants Board - Thank you!
- Nest monitoring and tracking of kea (Nelson Lakes/Arthurs Pass) - this project has been funded by the Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund for 2010 and 2011 - Thank you!
Projects which still needing funding:
- Prevention of lead poisoning in kea - we have received partial funding from Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund - Thank you!
- Conflict Resolution - trialling of kea repellent to prevent equipment damage
- Education and advocacy programme for schools
For more information on each of these projects (on a regional or local community level) please contact us. Information on each project will be posted on our Kea Research Projects page soon.
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Satellite Tracking - have you seen these kea?
Satellite maps of the fledgling from last year, nicknamed Chicken Little (72) are now loaded onto the website through until April 2010.
The other juvenile kea (nicknamed the Raglan Ranger after the area he was found in), has not been detected since mid October. This means that his transmitter has malfunctioned, dropped off and been buried or the bird has died and is in an area where the transmitter cannot access a satellite passing overhead.
We are keen to hear of any sightings of these 2 kea.
Raglan Ranger (73)
His last known coordinates (October) are near Conors Creek Hut - Mt Chittenden, (Lat -41.99377 Long 172.84841) and his bands are as follows:
Metal (Right Leg): 27-103420
Colour bands (Left Leg): Yellow/Pink
Chicken Little (72)
Presently in the Nelson Lakes area on Mt Robert
Metal (Right Leg): 27-103403
Colour bands (Left Leg): Orange/Yellow
If you see any kea with the band combinations above, please contact us directly at the Trust; Any information on either of these two birds would be much appreciated!
Photo: Chicken Little (72) with his new satellite at Bushline Hut, Robert Ridge 2009. Photo credit: Corey Mosen
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Thank you to our Sponsors!
The Kea Conservation Trust cannot achieve its conservation aims without the generous contribution of our sponsors and private donors.

Generous support from our sponsors has allowed us to begin an extensive research project to estimate numbers of kea remaining in the wild, prevent kea deaths through ingestion of human made toxins and to increase empathy and dialogue on the species.
However there are currently many more unanswered questions to serious issues which impact directly on kea survival and health.
If you can help out with funding to continue these conservation efforts , please contact us for a detailed prospectus.
We would like to thank our 2008 -2010 research sponsors and partners T-GEAR Trust, The NZ Lottery Board and Department of Conservation. We would also like to thank our donors; Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund, CMaG ARAZPA, Keystone Trust, Hubbards Foods Ltd, Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund and all other individual donors.






(For a full list of our sponsors and donors, please visit our Support Us pages in the menu).
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Year Round Monitoring of Kea - new online form!
Department of conservation and the Kea Conservation Trust are monitoring several populations of kea throughout the South Island. Your kea sightings can therefore provide invaluable information on where kea are, and if banding information is also supplied, where individual birds are.
Sightings may be sent in a number of ways:
- Online - fill in the new online form on the Kea Research Projects - Population Research page, and simply press the send key to forward to us instantly!
- Text – text the number of kea seen, their location and any banding information (colour and placement of bands) to us at 0274249594;
- Email – simply send us a quick email with your sighting/s;
- Post – print out a form from the website or write us a quick note and send to 83 Tanekaha Rd, Titirangi, Waitakere City 0604.
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