Kea

Nestor notabilis

World's only alpine parrot. Will dismantle your car, solve a puzzle, then deliver your message.

Population: ~3,000–7,000 individuals (roughly 4,000 mature per the 2013 BirdLife/IUCN assessment), declining
Habitat: Alpine and subalpine zones and adjacent montane/lowland southern-beech and native forest, sub-alpine scrub, tussock and herb-field, from near sea level/coastal lowlands up to about 2,400 m elevation
Fun fact: The Kea is the world's only alpine parrot and is renowned for its problem-solving intelligence, including tool use (e.g. a beak-injured wild kea named Bruce using pebbles as preening aids) and cooperative puzzle-solving in captive studies.
Range: Endemic to the South Island of New Zealand, along the axial mountain ranges from Kahurangi/Golden Bay south to Fiordland, including the Kaikoura Ranges (Extent of Occurrence ~119,000 km², occupied range ~3.5-4 million ha)
Diet: Omnivorous and highly opportunistic: shoots, fruits, leaves, nectar, seeds and roots of over 40 plant species, insect larvae and other invertebrates (beetle grubs, grasshoppers, land snails), carrion (deer, chamois, tahr, sheep), occasionally other birds/small mammals, and human food/rubbish scavenging
Size: 0.48 m
Lifespan: 20 years

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