Kea, Kaka, Kiwi and More

What do kea, kaka and kiwi all have in common?

They are all birds that are indigenous to New Zealand. That means they were one of the first animals here. While some birds have been brought into the country by people, these birds were here even before the first Maori people sailed over from their Polynesian islands.

In North America, we see parrots only as pets in cages. Here they are wild and fly free. In the photo above, a kea is looking for food in the parking lot. A few minutes later he flew onto the roof of my car and I saw his little head upside down out my window! When I didn't open the window, he began pecking on the glass to try to get in. People in the car nearby got out to take pictures of the keas and left their car door open. Big mistake! Just as you would expect, the cheeky kia flew into their car looking for food! It was very funny watching them chase him out! :)

The three keas in this photo are about to get into trouble for pecking on the boat. You can tell they are a type of parrot by looking at the shape of their beak. Look back at the Camouflage Game page to read about more kea antics. Click here to learn more about keas and to hear their parrot voice. What does it remind you of? What do you think it would be like to have one as a pet?!

When my class was research- ing infor- mation about New Zealand as part of a unit on reading non-fiction, they were surprised to read about a New Zealand bird called a kaka. They gave me strict instructions to find one and send back pictures. Here they are!

Unfortunately, there are not many left in the wild, but I was able to see one in an animal conservation park. As you can see, it is also a parrot, and it looks very similar to the kea. It uses its strong beak as a "third leg" to help it climb.

To hear a kaka, click here. To learn more about kaka and to see kaka chicks, click here.

The kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand. How sad that it is now endangered! Click on the picture to get a better view of it. It's well-camouflaged.

There is a very real concern that it may become extinct, so animal conservation parks are breeding kiwis and then letting them go in the wild to see if they can increase the population. I saw this kiwi in a conservation park. It was in a darkened habitat because it is a nocturnal bird. I was surprised to see how large it is. It's as big as a chicken! It uses its exta-long beak to get bugs and worms from the forest floor.

One of the reasons it's almost extinct is that the kiwi cannot fly. It has very small wings for its large body. Although it can run very fast, often it can't get away from its predators - rats, possums, dogs and cats. These predators also eat the kiwi eggs. Click here to learn more about the kiwi and to hear its creaky nighttime call.

Have you ever seen a bird that can fly AND swim underwater? The shag can! I've watched this bird dive right into the ocean and stay under for 18 seconds looking for fish! He can then fly away with his catch.

The Little Blue Penguin can swim, but can't fly. It has flippers instead of wings. It has marrow in its bones, instead of having hollow bones like most birds. This gives him more weight so he can swim deeper in the ocean.

This Little Blue Penguin lives in a conservation park, but others live on islands off the coast of New Zealand and Australia. Look, Chirpy's made a friend!

Other interesting birds found only in New Zealand are

the pukeko,

the takahe,

the weka.

Aren't they strange and wonder- ful? What do they all have in common with the kiwi? They can't fly!

We've seen pukeko and takahe only in conservation parks, but we've seen plenty of weka running across the road. They're too fast to get a picture of them in the wild! I have to show you the photo I took at a conservation park.

Click here to learn more about the pukeko and see its brilliant colors.

Click here to learn more about the takahe and to hear its squeaky cry.

Click here to learn more about the weka and to see a cute picture.

You've probably seen white swans in New York. There are plenty of them at Rockland Lake. Have you ever seen a black swan? In the estuary near our house there are hundreds of them! Aren't they beautiful?

Since New Zealand is made up of two large islands, North Island and South Island, one is never far away from the ocean. That means lots of seagulls! Click on the seagull pictures to see their new friend! :)

Seagulls are very clever birds. When they find a closed shell, they drop it from the air onto the hard sand on the beach. The thump on the beach makes the creature inside let go so the bird can open the shell and eat the creature!

I never used to be very interested in birds, until I met Mrs. Weiss. She was an amazing teacher at Cottage Lane. She was fascinated by birds and would often tell us real stories about birds she had seen or heard about. This got me paying more attention to birds. Once I did, I started to realize how interesting and how clever they are! My life has become more interesting because I have become more interested in another aspect of life, all thanks to Mrs. Weiss. I hope you too will start noticing birds more, and the next time someone tells you you're a "bird brain," say "Thank you!"