Kea Explorers

Would you like to be a kea explorer?

Kea explorers are...

• Curious
• Enthusiastic
• Natural born explorers
• And want to help kea!

If you fit the bill, are under 18 yrs of age, and would like to help out the kea and its environment you can join up as a Kea Explorer!

Kea Explorers will:

• help us with our kea research
• make sure kea are safe in the mountains
• learn about and teach others about kea….
• have fun exploring!!

Visit our Join Now page and become a kea explorer! We will send you out a kea explorer pack with your official Kea Explorer sticker and information pack (including a CD) so you can tell others about kea.

Kea Explorer Code of Conduct (to be uploaded)

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How you can help wild kea....

Kea are one of the few wild animals that choose to interact with people. However there are some people who don't understand kea and don't really like having them around. This is a shame as they are one of the most intelligent and fun loving species that we have here in New Zealand!

You can help kea by...

• keeping kea safe
• telling others how great kea are
• teaching others about kea

Keeping kea safe in the wild 

You can help keep kea safe by encouraging other people (especially adults) to be safe around kea. You can do this by kea proofing areas:

• keeping things that kea might like to explore (but people would rather they didnt!) out of their reach (such as bicycles, bags etc)
• dont leave garage or shed doors open in kea territory
• use a car cover to protect your vehicle when you go skiing
• teach others not to feed wild kea - it only encourages them around human areas and stops them from learning how to find natural food sources
• check if there is any lead in kea areas - lead nail heads and flashings on roofs are poisoning kea
• if you see an injured kea, or someone hurting kea, contact your nearest Department of Conservation office or us at the Trust (refer our contact details on Contact Us page)

Tell everyone how great kea are! 

You can also help by telling other people how fun, smart and unique kea are. Be ambassadors for kea and tell your friends and family the following:

• Kea are one of the most intelligent birds in the world and are as smart as primates!
• Kea are unique - they are the only mountain parrot in the world!
• They are one of the few wild animals who enjoy interacting with people!
• People come from thousands of miles away to see them - we are very lucky to have them here in NZ!

Teach others about kea

As a kea explorer you will receive a kea information pack which will let you teach your friends, family and class mates about kea!

Many people think kea are being destructive and naughty when they pull apart human property or pull rubber off cars, but they are only only trying to survive in their harsh environment. They are doing what is natural and were here in New Zealand long before people arrived.  It is peoples responsibility to keep their gear away from kea and keep kea safe.

Most people think there are heaps of kea but there arent! Kea are endangered and we need to protect those that are left.

Helping captive kea...

Design a kea puzzle!!!!

Kea are held in 30 zoos and parks around New Zealand. Because they are so clever they get bored easily so we need inventive people (just like you!) to help make their lives more fun!

We would like to see your ideas for some fun games for kea. Puzzles or play objects must be:

• Safe for kea (no toxic chemicals, small parts that may be swallowed or anything breakable);
• Interesting for kea (think about the things you like to look at, smell, touch and taste);

Remember:

• kea have very strong beaks, so no glass or brittle plastic bits;
• they love to investigate and open things and love different textures and things they can move or that make a sound!
• what challenges do kea have in the wild? Think about what they normally find in their environment and how they use it....

Team up with your friends and family and send us your great puzzle plans (including drawings and a written description of how it works) and we will show case them on our website.

Send your designs to us through our Contact Us page.

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Do you have a pet bird at home? (or any other caged animal...)

Learn how to keep your bird healthy and happy!

If you have a pet bird at home in a cage - a canary, budgie, parakeet or parrot - it is important to make their lives as fullfilling as possible. Think how you would like being in the same room all your life, eating the same food, with the same stuff on the walls! It would drive you crazy and it often drives caged birds crazy too!

Living alone in a cage for many birds is not much fun. Many birds as a result develop abnormal behaivours such as feather plucking, constant loud shrieking or repeatitive swaying or pacing behaviours. This is a sure sign of stress (and an unhappy bird).

You can make their lives interesting by learning about how the bird you have lives in the wild. You need to know the following:

• Is it a social species? Does it live in flocks or is it more solitary?

Many social birds are kept on their own all their lives. Sometimes if a bird hasnt learned how to interact with others of its own species it may not be possible to introduce a new bird. Your bird may be territorial and be unhappy having the same sex bird in its space. If you decide to get a friend for your bird check out the best way to do it before rushing out to get one.  If it isnt possible to get a friend for your bird you may be able to have an outdoor aviary during the day so that it can see other wild birds flying around. Make sure any outdoor area is safe from rats and has a warm area out of the sun, wind and rain.

• What is its home like? Does it live in deep forest, or open grasslands with few trees?

Try and recreate your birds natural environment - it can be alot of fun! If your bird would normally live in a heavily treed area, introduce more branches and leaves in the cage so that your bird feels safer and has more to do (make sure it still has areas to fly to and from!). Birds that live in more open areas may like vantage points to check out their surroundings. Give your bird something different to see by a window (but check for temperature changes - too much sun can cook your bird!)

• What temperature does it live in? Does it come from  tropical, temperate or cold area?

If your bird lives inside think about what temperature it is in. A bird in a cage cant move to cooler or warmer areas easily so give it the ability to change its temperature by giving it access to a small pool of water (to cool down in) and warm nest areas to warm up in. Dont try and change the heat in the air as birds wont be able to get away and sudden changes could kill your bird! Let your bird choose how cool or warm it wants to be!

• What does it eat in the wild and how does it find its food? Does it eat fruit, seeds, nectar or invertebrates? Does it drink nectar out of flowers, eat the leaves, shoots, flowers, berries or dig up the roots of plants? does it dig around in the dirt to get bugs?

Give your bird a variety of foods that mimic what it might eat in the wild - if it likes bugs, you can put rotten logs or clean leaf litter in the cage.  You can also put large branches (cabbage tree and coprosma) , and flax flowers in their enclosure - but be careful! Some plants are poisonous so check first before you offer them.

You can also give fruits, veges and seeds in interesting ways that makes them have to use their beaks and feet as they would in the wild.

• What does it normally do in a day? Birds are busy! They need lots of things to do to keep them physically and mentally healthy!

Does your bird normally fly alot in the wild? Does it spend alot of time foraging for food, socialising with another bird, bathing in shallow pools of water, or building nests? Try and make your birds environment fun and interesting so that it can perform as many natural behaviours as possible.

For more ideas on how to make your birds life enjoyable, visit our Resource page for the new Kea Husbandry Manual. There are lots of ideas in their you can use for your bird.

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