Pillaging kea 'poaching rare kiwi chicks'

New Zealand's mischievous alpine parrot, the kea, is suspected of killing rare kiwi chicks in the South Island.

Kea have never before been implicated in the decline of New Zealand's national bird.

The striking green parrots, thought to be one of the brightest birds in the world and fully protected, are usually found in high alpine areas of the South Island.

But they are following Department of Conservation staff into two kiwi sanctuaries in South Island lowland forest.

The rare kiwi living in the sanctuaries are on the highly endangered list and are under intensive surveillance by DoC staff, who monitor the birds by lifting "hatches", or inspection lids, built into kiwi burrows.

The kea are also lifting the inspection lids with their strong, hooked beaks and talons, despite the fact rocks are used to weight them down.

"We think they could be pillaging the burrows," said DoC kiwi expert Paul Jansen.

"Staff are taking quite extreme measures to make sure there are no kea about when they do monitoring, including bypassing a burrow and going on to the next one if kea are about."

DoC runs two kiwi havens on the West Coast, at Okarito and at Haast, further south.

The Okarito brown kiwi, only identified as a separate subspecies in the past decade, is estimated to number just 250. It survives in a 10,000ha sanctuary in South Westland.

At Haast-Tokoeka sanctuary, the kiwi are almost as rare, numbering about 300 and also on the highly critical list.

While there was no proof kea were actually killing kiwi chicks, they were under suspicion, Mr Jansen said. The latest incident was at Haast.

"We have some evidence of dead kiwi chicks just outside burrows which look like they have been attacked by something but we don't know what it is," he said.

"While we don't know it was kea, we wouldn't be surprised. There were no teethmarks."

Kea antics have earned the birds headlines and a starring role in insurance television commercials with their liking for ripping the rubber trim off cars parked at skifields in the South Island.

While the cheeky birds usually confine themselves to alpine areas, they would go anywhere their curiosity took them, Mr Jansen said.

"You can bet if they're in lowland forest, they're up to no good."

The DoC said more than half the county's wildlife is facing extinction.

About 2400 bird, reptile and plant species are threatened, 800 in the top "acute" or "chronic" categories.

The report said local populations of the kokako and some kiwi would disappear under present funding and acknowledged the "practical impossibility" of halting the decline of all threatened species.

Who's a clever boy?

Kea are a protected species.

The size of the wild population is not known, but is estimated at between 1000 and 5000 birds

Kea grow up to 50cm long and although mostly vegetarian, they also enjoy grubs and insects.

They are rated one of the world's most intelligent birds. Source: Department of Conservation