Janine

This lively wee lady was banded at Luxmore Hut, Kepler Track during December 2020 when the kea team ventured up there to do some kea monitoring, advocacy and conservation work. Janine the kea is named after one of the hut wardens - Janine - the loveliest, liveliest and most charismatic woman who has an infectious enthusiasm for, and knowledge of, New Zealand's native biota. Janine's hut talks leave hundreds of visitors a month hungry for more information after she regales them with stories of kea, kiwi and whio, entices them to join in the chorus in sing-alongs to her original masterpiece songs about stoats and much more. Janine gives so much of her time and energy into educating all the hut visitors about the flora, fauna and the land, is a friendly and welcoming face and the night the kea team banded these kea, there was a unanimous vote from the trampers in the hut to name this kea after Janine. So if you see her around, please keep an eye on her and report her to the Kea Database! She has an upturned claw on her left foot which is unusual but she seems to get around okay.