Kea - an unexpected visitor to the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary

About 24 people conducted our annual kākāriki karaka population count over two days this week in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary (more about that in a later post, but the short answer is that we counted a record number of birds and concluded the population continues to grow at a steady pace). On Day 2 (Wednesday, 2026-09-02) about a dozen of us arrived at the top of the Sanctuary by vehicle. We were immediately greeted by the unmistakable "kee-aaaaaaaa" of New Zealand's famous alpine parrot, the kea. Nobody present had any recollection of ever seeing a kea in the Sanctuary, they tend to live at higher altitudes. However, juveniles have been known to go exploring while young, including visiting lower regions, before (hopefully) returning home to their natural environment: the mountains.

Needless to say, we were all a bit distracted from our kākāriki-karaka-counting task and watched (and photographed) our surprise visitor for a while. Out came my camera of course... The kea came and went a few times, and I was lucky enough to get some of him in flight.

(This bird had leg bands, and was identified as a male bird banded last year near Murchison.)

Here he is returning from one of his short trips away from us. His wing undersides are in shade here.

It was 'golden hour' (shortly after sunrise) and the sun was able to get under his wing highlighting the gorgeous feathers hidden when perched.

He landed in a tree top for a while.

He left. Here he is returning. No sun under the wing this time.

He landed on a dead trunk. It was a windy day and the wind under his feathers seems to have given him a mane.

He took off again, I was a bit slow to follow and only just got him in this frame (his perch is on the right).

Then I caught up with my panning for a couple more shots.

Next perch.

He's about to take off again.

He closed his eyes for a time here. I'm not sure if he was just slow-blinking, or instinctively closing his eyes for protection while flying through foliage.

Note how he's just plowing through the soft foliage here.

He's grabbing onto foliage on the way past.

Although it was tempting to stay and watch our new friend, we decided to enter the Sanctuary and head down the spur track, where we would split off into pairs and start counting kākāriki karaka. Our friend the kea didn't like being abandoned and followed us down the track deeper into the Sanctuary. (Light is a lot more challenging here, it was early morning in a dark forest. I was commonly shooting at 40 - 64,000 ISO.)

A few portraits.

And lastly, a bunch of mugshots.

There's a funny ending to this story. The kea followed a couple of the surveyors for about three hours, and made a habit of landing on the head of one lucky (or was it unlucky?) volunteer! He chewed boots, packs etc as this species has a habit of doing. He was also enjoying throwing tracking tunnels off  the track. A very naughty boy! This species is highly intelligent, inquisitive and cheeky, and brings many smiles to many faces, even when they're undoing your bootlaces, opening containers, biting chunks out of your windscreen wipers etc.

The Floyds have dinner

Those who've been following this blog for a while will remember the feel-good story about Floyd from last September. Here's a link to the post if you haven't seen it. Since I wrote that post I'd seen Floyd once more, in October 2025.

I was walking through the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary yesterday picking up some monitoring cards, and as I picked up the last card I heard some soft chatter just uphill. I turned, and a pair of kākāriki karaka were feeding on the buttress roots of a beech. I saw a silver band on the right leg of one (indicating a male), and guessed pretty quickly that the bird was Floyd. I was only about 30m above his old nest site from 2022. He moved a few times and sure enough, it was Floyd. He's now a little over eight years old, and by far the oldest kākāriki karaka in the Brook.

Here is Floyd looking beautiful and healthy.

Floyd and his wife (I'll call her Mrs Floyd) were tearing off bits of the sooty mold (which is indicative of the presence of scale insects) to snack on the insects themselves. [These particular scale insects consume sap from the tree phloem and excrete excess sugar through the filaments commonly seen with a drop of honeydew at the end.]

Here is Mrs Floyd looking as healthy and beautiful as her beau. Two photos followed by close-ups showing the scale insect in her beak. The filament is still attached to the bug. 

Now a photo of Floyd with a scale insect in his beak, and a close-up.

Floyd checking out a nearby tree for more scale insects.

He's found one.

Compare this photo with the previous one, the filament above Floyd's right claw is gone and there is a hole where the scale insect used to be. (That's Mrs Floyd in the background.)

One more photo of Floyd.... until next time.

Mātātā - yet another visit

It stopped raining about midday yesterday and the sun came out, so I headed back to the Wakapuaka sandflats for another photo session with the mātātā (fernbirds). I took far too many photos (about 3500), and whittled it down to about 18. Here are a few of them. Still after that 'perfect' shot, not easy as these birds instinctively stay inside the bushes.

Posing in a rare window through the bush.

Puffed up to keep warm while having a post-preening nap.

Yay, finally got one out in the open. A bit far away though and cropped heavily.

A few backlit by sky.

They spend a fair bit of time just above (or perhaps on?) the ground hidden in the long grass. (Their feeding and nesting habits makes them vulnerable to predators such as rats, mustelids, cats, dogs etc.) You can follow their movement through the grass by watching the grass stalks move. Occasionally they pop up briefly like this one did.

Mātātā (fernbird) - a second visit

I visited the Wakapuaka sandflats again today hoping to see a mātātā (New Zealand fernbird) or two. My aim was to get a calendar-worthy photo of one of these elusive birds for my 2027 calendar. Not quite there yet, but here are three shots from today that passed the cull.

My guess is I'll be paying them another visit or two over the next month or two. All I want is eyeball focus, a side-on view so most of the bird is in the focal plane and the tail feathers are displayed, and no vegetation between me and the bird. Not asking for much.... 😊