The Kea: a New Zealand problem/Chapter 3

by George Reginald Marriner

CHAPTER III.

 

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HAUNTS AND HABITS.

 

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Mountain lilies shine
Far up against the snow,
And ratas twine
On the wooded slopes below.
Rata and clematis
Sweet as bush may hold;
While honey-loving wild birds kiss
The kowhai’s cup of gold.

—Mary Colborne-Veel.

It is a well established fact that the Kea is found in the mountainous regions of the South Island of New Zealand; but whether it lives among the snow-capped peaks and glaciers, or lower down near the forest line, is a question that has not so far been satisfactorily answered.

So much romance has surrounded the bird since its discovery that it is difficult to get people to come down to the sober facts of the case. So popular has it become to describe the Kea as the solitary denizen of the lonely snow-bound alpine peaks, that even some of our present-day scientists, without taking the trouble to ascertain its real habits, prolong the popular erroneous belief that the Kea dwells only amid ice and snow.

A recent book states that it lives “up in the mighty mountains where the snow never melts and men seldom go: sometimes it is driven from its stronghold and is compelled to seek food at lower elevations.”

Another writer describes the bird as living “far above the dwarf vegetation . . . . in a region often shrouded with mists and driving sleet.”

The Kea may often be seen soaring among the silent snow-capped heights; yet it by no means spends most of its there, but is more frequently found at lower levels.

Though the mountains in the South Island are high, ranging from five to thirteen thousand feet, and though in winter they are covered with a thick coating of snow, yet in summer, owing to the warm winds and rain from the north west, much of their snow is melted. It is, therefore, only

The Kea: On the look out.

on the main dividing range and several other more or less isolated peaks that much snow can be found; and this is often confined to the greater heights. Again, if the Kea lives far up above the dwarf vegetation, how is it to subsist? And again, is it likely that a bird would make its home in a wilderness of snow and ice when there are better places for nesting, lower down the mountain, among the very vegetation from which it obtains its natural food?

From what I have personally seen of the Kea’s home, it is not a place of eternal ice and snow, but a spot that, in fine weather at all events, is unsurpassed for beauty and situation.

Below is the ever vernal forest, with all its beautiful tints of green, covering the mountain slopes down to the bottom of the valley, where an entrancing panorama of lake, river and flat spreads out before the eye.

Above, the craggy peaks pierce a sky of exquisite blue; while under foot the sub-alpine flora, in all its quaint beauty, forms a carpet of cushion-like plants, dotted over with small white flowers, like so many stars shining in an emerald sky. Away from the heat of the valley, with a wide, grand outlook and a life-giving atmosphere, the bird has surroundings to be coveted. Sometimes it rises and circles the snowy peaks, but more often it swoops down to where the forest and river-bed meet, and revels among the foliage.

A good deal of support has been given to the Kea’s alleged preference for snow and ice by the fact that travellers, when climbing the Alps, often see the parrot soaring round, and they too readily conclude that this must be its natural environment.

It seems to me that nothing could be more natural than that a bird of such known inquisitiveness and keen sight should fly up and investigate the dark figure of the climber as he makes his way over the snow and ice.

Sir W. Buller, as early as 1888, made very clear the Kea’s true habitat. He says, “I have seen it soaring or flying, often in parties of three or more, from peak to peak, high above the wooded valley; but it is more generally to be met with on the open mountain side, flying from rock to rock, or hopping along the ground amongst the stunted alpine vegetation, in quest of its natural food.”

Subsequent writers, however, seem entirely to have passed over this clear statement, and in all the popular articles on the subject that I have seen a wrong habitat is given.

Sir Julius von Haast saw two Keas flying over the Godley Glacier; but, though he saw Keas several times while

The Kea: Hunting for insect larvae.

exploring the alpine country of Canterbury, once only did he meet them in perpetually snow-clad regions and amongst glaciers.

Another significant fact is that many accounts of sheep killing have come from districts which are situated many miles from the region erroneously described as the Kea’s home,.

Dr. L. Cockayne, in a communication to me, gives what I take to be the Kea’s correct habitat. He says “I have observed the Kea in various parts of the Southern Alps, from the Humboldt Mountains in the south to Kelly’s Hill in Westland. Although frequently met with on the open alpine and sub-alpine hillside, I consider the bird essentially one of the forest limit, where it may be seen in numbers at the junction of the forest and sub-alpine meadows and in the Nothofagus forest where such are pierced by river-beds.”

In my travels in the back country, I have frequently made the Kea’s acquaintance, mostly around the head-waters of the Rakaia River and also around Mount Torlesse, and, though I have seen it up as high as 5000 feet or more, my observations agree entirely with Dr. Cockayne’s statement.

One writer even ridicules the idea of Keas being forest birds, for he says, “I remember being astonished on reading of the Kea living in the forest, for I never, even during the severest winter, saw it perched on trees.” It is a well-known fact now that they commonly settle on trees; as early as 1862 Sir Julius von Haast saw one in a tree near Lake Wanaka, and since his time numerous similar testimonies have been borne.

I have, on several occasions, seen the Kea perching on trees. Once in January, 1903, in a forest behind the Glenthorne Homestead, and while camping for several days near the source of the Avoca river, I and others constantly saw them flying in and out of the forest some 500 feet above us.

The fact that these birds were seen so low down in summer disproves the old statement of many writers that they come down to lower altitudes only in heavy weather. Each time that I saw them low down it was mid-summer, and the weather was warm and clear.

At first I thought that possibly the Keas had come to live at low altitudes since they had developed sheep-killing propensities, in order to be near to their quarry; but the fact that before they had learned that habit, namely, in 1866-67, Sir Julius von Haast saw more Keas below than above snow-line disproves the supposition. The very fact that, in winter, the heavy falls of snow, accompanied by cold biting winds, drive the Kea to lower altitudes, seems to me to indicate conclusively that the bird is not so fond of cold stormy heights as many people suppose.

People have often wondered how the birds manage to exist in the alpine country when an excessively heavy fall of snow absolutely covers the land for many weeks, so that even the sheep out on the open hill-side are buried so deeply as to prevent the birds molesting them. An experience that came to

Mountain daisy (Celmisia coriacea): The Kea is fond of the roots of this plant.

Mr. R. Guthrie, of Burke’s Pass, throws a good deal of light on this question. Many years ago he was out looking after sheep on Mistake Station during a heavy snowfall, when, walking on the frozen crust of snow on a hillside, he suddenly broke through and sank first into a bed of snow and then through the tops of some scrub on which the smooth sheet of snow was lying. The snow was so thick that, with the tops of the scrub, it made all dark below. Hearing some odd sounds, he struck a match to see what sort of companions he had fallen in with, and there he found several Keas busy pecking the ground for grubs and gurgling over their work; and further away he could hear others. Here, then, was an explanation of the wintering of the Keas. The alpine scrub is generally fairly thick where there is any at all, thick enough to form a roof upon which the snow can lie, and stiff enough to bear the weight of it; and beneath the scrub and snow roof the Keas can be very comfortably housed, out of the reach of frosts and gales, and with a larder under their feet. There may not be much in that larder, but it is enough to keep them alive till the snow disappears.

It is quite a mistake to think that whenever you are in Kea country you will see the birds; considering the expanse of the country, the Keas are comparatively few, and the traveller may spend days and even weeks without ever seeing a single specimen.

They seem to have favourite valleys and peaks, and, if you can get back into the mountain fastnesses and camp in these places, the Keas in their native haunts can usually be seen.

At other times they may be seen in ones and twos or larger groups scattered throughout the country, but their appearance on the scene is always an uncertainty.

Often they seem to be very timid, and fly high up in the air, giving out their characteristic cries as they sail overhead. Sometimes, on the other hand, they become fearless and poke round one’s tent and camp fire in a way that makes them a perfect nuisance.

In some districts, where they were once to be seen in large flocks, the long slaughter has since greatly reduced their numbers.

The Kea, like other parrots, is normally a vegetarian, with, as one might expect from its connection with the brush-tongued parrots, a strong liking for honey.

In addition to this it is strongly insectivorous, being specially fond of the larvae of the insects found on the mountains.

The late Mr. T. H. Potts says that the Kea gathers its subsistence from the nectar of hardy flowers—from the drupes and berries of dwarfed shrubs that contend with the rigorous climate and press upward almost to the snow-line of our alpine giants. To these food resources may be added insects found in the crevices of rocks, beneath the bark of trees, etc.

A correspondent, in a letter to me on the subject, says: “The Kea eats all the grasses to be found in mountainous country, and besides eating the tender shoots it is particularly fond of the grain or seeds of the blue grass. It turns over the stones and gets the larvae of the ants, and also eats worms, grasshoppers, grubs and beetles.”

Mountain lilies (Ranunculus Lyallii) and celmisias: The roots of these plants form part of the Kea’s food supply.

When the snow covers the sub-alpine shrubs, and insect life is dormant, the Kea is forced to go lower and lower down the mountain to take shelter in gullies, where it feeds on the hard, bitter seeds of kowhai (Sophora tetraptera), small hard seeds in the fruit of Pittosporum, the black berries of Aristotelia fructicosa, (the native currant), as well as on the fruit of the pitch pine (Dacrydium biforme?) and the totara (Podocarpus totara.).

Mr. Huddlestone gives its bill of fare as follows:— “Besides grubs, they feed on the berries of various alpine shrubs and trees, such as the snow-berry, Gaultheria, Coprosma, Panax (Nothopanax), the little black seed in a white skin of Phyllocladus alpinus, and Pittosporum, with its hard seed in a glutinous mass, like bird-lime, and the red berry of the Podocarpus (Nivalis), also on roots of various herbaceous plants—Aciphylla squarrosa and A. Colensoi, Ranunculus Lyallii, celmisias, etc.”

Professor W. B. Benham, when in the Southern Alps, saw some Keas eating the orange berries of the low-growing heath, Leucopogon Fraseri. He says:—“Two birds were feeding on these berries within two yards of where I was sitting; they ate the juicy part of the berry, putting out the skin and usually the ‘seed’ also, which I found afterwards on the ground, though now and then I heard the bird crack the seed; so that occasionally at any rate it swallows this.”

A correspondent, writing on this subject, says:—“I have watched the Kea pecking grubs out of a dead tree, and have frequently noticed them picking into the earth for the roots with their beaks.”

Another says:—“I have shot very few [Keas] that have not had mutton in their crops, and next to that are grubs and the roots of aniseed. In summer and autumn they go for berries, such as snow-berries, etc., and also the honey out of the flax seed (Phormium tenax).”

Miss Eva C. Izard, of Christchurch, has placed me under obligation by putting her Keas through a special course of food in order to ascertain their particular tastes; and, in addition to this, so tame was one of them that it was given at certain times the run of the orchard and grounds and so could help itself to the many native plants found there. In this way, observing the birds under circumstances as natural as possible, Miss Izard was able to supply me with much useful information regarding their natural foods. I cannot do better than quote her letter:—“I have been putting the Kea through a course of native berries as far as practicable. He likes Coprosma best, but he never eats the seed, only the outside. Konini (Fuchsia exorticata) will suit him, but he only eats it out of politeness—not with avidity. He declines the honey out of the white and crimson koromiko (Veronica sp.), but Mr. King [one of her Keas] used to love the flowers of V. huthiana and V. Fairfieldii only next best to yellow kowhai, to which he was as nearly devoted as to broad-leaf flowers. Even when no flowers were out on the broad-leaf he could always be found busy pecking at the bark of the branches, but I could never find out what he got there. He disliked five-fingered Jack in seed, but patronised the flowers, and was fond of nipping off branches of it. There is a tall umbrella tree, with Parsonsia climbing over it, up which he often spent a very busy hour or two in spring, though I can’t say what he

Maori onion (Bulbenifera sp.).

was sucking. He never cared to go up at any other season. Cabbage trees (Cordyline), matipos (Pittosporum), birches, rangioras (Bachyglottis rangiora), miki-miki (Cyathodes acerosa), and New Zealand holly (Olearia ilicifolia) were never interfered with, nor was Libertia grandiflora, but he always made a dart for the mountain lily (Ranunculus Lyallii) and daisies (Celmisia sp.), roots as soon as ever he was out of his cage. Mr King never interfered with the English trees except one oak, and he never could resist cherry trees when the fruit was ripe. Lettuces ranked next in favour to dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) roots, of which he was very fond, I think because they reminded him of Maori onions (Bulbenifera sp.), as he always made a point of demolishing each plant we got. He seemed to need roots for his digestion; he was never so well when he did not have them two or three times a week. The Keas always like the flax honey, though they don’t care for the seeds. In fact, honey seems much more to their taste than berries, except the Coprosma."

The above accounts seem to me to give a fair idea of the Kea’s food supply before it took to sheep-killing.

One can easily imagine him in spring and summer fossicking in the cushiony vegetation of the sub-alpine meadows for insect larvae, or flying in and out of the bush in search of honey and fruits; while in autumn and winter he would be searching for insects among the crevices of the rocks or eating the berries of the forest. Now that he has taken to sheep-killing much of his spare time is used in worrying the sheep, and in winter the mutton must make a welcome addition to his scanty larder.