Observation #16313
- When
- 2023-01-04 16:30:00
- Where
- Ford Bridge, Lower South Island
- What
- Sighted 2 birds
- Status
- Verified (Public)
- Who
- Gwynneth
Details
Location Details
On the first pull over bay outside of the bridge, after you enter Milford area.
Comments
The American tourist said he didn't know that feeding the keas was not allowed - I don't believe it. Regardless, maybe it would be useful to put in the airplane ahead of arrival, a newsletter of the dos and dont's of how to interact with NZ wildlife. It could be part of the promotion of conscious, environmentally friendly travel. There's heaps of signs, but the tourists i've spoken to don't understand the importance of not feeding keas, until one explains it to them. There's a long drop in Gertrude Valley with a super informative poster on keas, which should be in more locations (especially at campsites), because it highlights how clever and rare keas are.
Behaviour
We stopped initially because an American tourist was feeding A7 some sort of cracker. After we told the tourist to stop, the bird became curious and flew across the cars, stopping to hop around and peck at the rubber and metal parts. We left for sometime and when we returned, A7 was in the same place but had began pecking a hole into a roof tent (about 3mm wide). He was very curious and cheeky when left to his own devices, however when tourists cornered him for a photo he looked to become anxious and darted his eyes back and forth before flying away. We observed from the road, some tourists followed him and found him sitting on a rock, they then approached him too close and he flew away. So he was curious at first, but began to be timid after the persistent following.
