What's In A Name?
The kea’s species name, Nestor, is from Greek mythology. Nestor was said to be a wise old counselor to the Greeks at Troy. Notabilis (latin), means, ‘that worthy of note’. Maori gave the name kea, describing the sound of its call (‘kee-aa!’). Kea were considered guardians of the mountains for the Waitaha Maori during their search for Pounamu (greenstone). A flock of kea is known either as a ‘circus of kea’ or a ‘curiousity of kea’! ‘Kea’ is both singular and plural.
Endangered Mountain Parrot
Kea are the only mountain parrot species in the world and now number fewer than 5,000 individuals in the wild (Anderson, 1986). Numbers of Kea were substantially reduced with the introduction of a government bounty in the late 1870′s which resulted in a conservative estimate of over 150,000 birds being culled as late as the 1970’s (Temple, 1978).
Kea are now listed as Nationally Endangered (Robertson et al, 2012) and vulnerable, population trend decreasing by the IUCN Red List (Birdlife International, 2013).
