Re: Flora of New Zealand
Randall, Rod wrote:
>
> New Zealand is in a very different situation in that being a
> very small "island continent" and separated from
> any contact for many millions of years from other continents its
> base of plant and animal life was quite small to start with.
> They have the only meat eating parrot
> in the world, a lovely bird I'm sure Tony and Moira could expand on.
As Moira has already replied to the original question, I shall just
comment on the Kea, one of our small range of native parrots.
The kea is about the size of a domestic hen, but the characteristic
parrot shape (and big curved beak!). The foliage as normally seen is a
gorgeous dark forest green - seen close up, they are finely patterned in
several shades of green. In flight, bright orange feathers show on the
underside of the wings. The name comes from the call, which is a
penetrating, rather plaintive and haunting "Keeeee-aaaaaah".
Keas have been driven from the lowlands by the activities of man, and
their normal range is now in the lower - and even upper - slopes of the
Southern Alps, where they can be seen in winter fossicking in the snow.
They are highly intelligent and natural clowns. Trampers in the high
country have to secure, or hide, all pieces of their gear overnight, or
keas will remove or destroy it (or another bird, the flightless Weka,
will steal anything loose or shiny). Keas love to do slaloms down the
corrugated iron roofs of upcountry huts, making a great din while doing
so - to the annoyance of any occupants. On certain mountain passes where
there are scenic laybys, people parking to look at the view are quite
likely to have their car damaged by this large, fearless bird, which can
tear off windscreens wipers, and seems especially fond of pulling out
the rubber sealing strips from around windows and windscreens.
High-country sheep farmers hate keas and tend to shoot them on sight, as
they believe the birds kill sheep on the high pastures. This may be true
- undoubtedly they will attack a sheep that has been damaged and has
open wounds. This makes the work of the conservationists hard, as the
birds are already restricted to a fairly small range, and, while they
are not rare, their numbers are not huge.
If anyone wants more, mail me privately and I can send you some text
from my bird encyclopedia and/or one or more photos of keas (from the
same source).
Tony
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
