Kea upgraded to endangered status as predators, climate change destroy habitat

Wed, Dec 13

New Zealand's beloved Bird of the Year - the kea - could soon be no more, according to an international study.

NZ's Bird of the Year - the kea - added to global list of endangered species

Forest and Bird estimate less than 7000 kea remain.
Source: 1 NEWS

The national bird has been upgraded from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered' in BirdLife International's reassessment of birds' threat statuses for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Forest and Bird chief conservation adviser Kevin Hackwell says, "Every year, kea nests are destroyed by introduced predators like rats, stoats, possums, and feral cats."

"Kea who don't regularly interact with people really benefit from large-scale aerial predator control," he says.

It follows a study which found only two per cent of kea nests were successful.

The success rate improved following the use of biodegradable 1080 by the Department of Conservation, increasing the kea nests' survival to 27 per cent in 2015.

"However, those kea that are fed by tourists and some locals tend to try novel foods, and sadly, they are particularly susceptible to eating the poison baits used to kill predators," Mr Hackwell says.

Read on