(water rushing)
So we're at Monkey Creek carpark,
and this is just east of...
This is what happens every day
when you turn up to a carpark.
There's kea at risk of getting run over
and they often do get run over.
(whimsical music)
We're about to go on a field trip
along the Milford Highway
and hopefully introduce people to kea
and just talk about all the kea conservation
issues up close and personal.
(whimsical music)
They're just a beautiful bird,
so clever and intelligent
and you know, wise.
Their name, Nestor notabilis.
Notabilis is wise.
You can see it, sometimes,
they look like they're very wise. (chuckles)
(whimsical music)
Like, they look pretty robust and feisty,
but seriously, their curiosity gets the better of them,
and they'll see a predator and they won't,
they don't have that learned behaviour
to respond to predators as something bad.
(wing beats rustle)
(keas vocalise)
The biggest challenges facing the kea
I think are certainly predators, nest predators.
Big one is lead poisoning.
So lead is widespread throughout kea habitat,
found on roofs, hut roofs, buildings, old buildings.
(whimsical music)
So here's some of that big stash of scrap metal
that's left over from the dismantling of the buildings
associated with the tunnel.
(melancholy music)
It's pretty worrying that all of these
fleshy-fruited alpine plants that kea love to feed on
are sort of right in amongst these deposits of scrap metal.
There's a big deposit of it down next to that rock.
So we picked up about six kilos of it together
last time, from different sites down here.
So I'm gonna take some blood and do a lead test on the spot.
Yep.
4.9, that's good.
So that's pretty low.
Other threats are people feeding kea.
That's a huge one because it actually promotes
them to stay longer in built-up areas
which exposes them to yet more threats
like getting hit by cars.
(shutter clicking) (whimsical music)
If we lost the kea from New Zealand,
then we've lost a national icon, you know,
we've lost probably our most charismatic bird.
I think if we do all the things
we say we're going to do,
then the future will be brighter for kea.
(whimsical music)