Observation #18897
- When
- 2023-09-08 07:00:00
- Where
- Sealy Tarns, Mid South Island
- What
- Sighted 10 birds
- Status
- Verified (Public)
- Who
- Abigail Hannah
Details
Location Details
At Sealy Tarns and on track
Comments
Thanks for your mahi :)
Behaviour
Jumping on picnic table, trying to vandalise the sign that says, "do not feed the kea," chasing after each other, fighting over a sunglasses pouch that they may have stolen from an unsuspecting visitor. First sighting was A9 (at 6:15am), with tracker on her back, who screeched as she announced her arrival and then followed us, hopping up the steps to Sealy Tarns. Later up the track (7:10am), five more kea were playfully hopping on the stairs. They flew away as we continued to hike and met us at the top. Several kea were playing in the snow etc and then there were NINE in total around the picnic table (not including A9) (7:30am). Most birds were not banded and were different sized, (presumably juvenile to adult). Six kea then flew off into the mountains. BO and two others lingered for a bit and tried to get into our bags before flying away. On the way back down (around 8am), we saw A9 again catching worms for her breakfast. Best kea experience ever.
