Matty

'Matty' is named after the a young chap from Newcastle, England, that we hauled out of the White Horse Hill campground to come and help us when we caught three kea in one go! He helped us move the kea to a comfortable, dry area for banding, passed us our gear and took notes for us. A lot of kea research went on in the area until about ten years ago. Researchers from Vienna, Austria spent a lot of time around Aoraki observing kea to gain a better understanding of their behavioural biology. Several PhD students from the University of Canterbury also spent time in the area researching the then reasonably plentiful kea population. Not a lot has happened since but hopefully things are about to change! With the beginnings of the kea sighting project kicking off in other areas where kea and humans interact, and the Kea Conservation Trust's lead removal project, there will be more work happening here. Watch this space.