The Dichotomy of the New Zealand Parrot

While not as diverse as a lot of places in the world, the wildlife of New Zealand is usually unique in some shape or way. This is, of course, usually due to geographical isolation. I didn't even know that New Zealand had parrots before I came here. The Kea and the Kakapo represent this uniqueness in somewhat opposite fashion. The Kea is like the rambunctious teenager while the Kakapo is more like an older refined gentleman. I've never seen a Kakapo and I probably never will. They were thought to be extinct for many years until a population was found in the remote West Coast of the South Island and are now making a slow recovery on a remote island but remain one of the most endangered birds in the world. The Kea on the other hand use to be plentiful but they are headed towards endangerment but somehow this might actually have a lot to do with there own recklessness. I have had the chance to see a Kea and they are just wild!
We were camping in our van down in the South Island down by Fox Glacier when we were awoken by a bird on our roof. We weren't too concerned until were heard Keeeeeaaaaa!. When we opened the door we found one running off with a jandal. We chased him down until he reluctantly gave it up. I watched for the next 20 minutes as they tore into other parked cars. Wipers, rubber seal, external lights etc. They ripped into it! They then moved onto an out building, they started on the roof and worked their way down. They will tear into anything out of curiosity. I watched one on top of a Stop sign. I thought he had worked one of the bolts loose that held the sign in place. I didn't believe it so I walked over to check it out. He jumped off as I approached but stayed nearby. He hadn't actually worked it loose but as I grabbed the nut to check it he hopped over to right under my feet. I swear that he was telling me " Yeah man, go for it, let's fuck this shit up!" like he thought I was joining in. He was that enthusiastic! Here are videos of the Kakapo and that Kea that represents these opposites. You can watch the whole Kea video if you like it's actually quite good but the part I'm trying to show is in the fourth video about three minutes in. You can skip through the videos on the right hand side.