Talk:Kea
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Kea is part of WikiProject New Zealand, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of New Zealand and New Zealand-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page. | ||
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Assessment comments
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The change I made was a quick fix to a display problem in IE5.5 on a wide screen in a display with high resolution. The table then slipped around to the left of the picture and became scambled up with the text, including overwriting it. This is a minimal change to fix the problem. However there might be a more aesthetic way to do it. hawthorn
Keas are Kool. --GringoInChile 04:35, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
Missing info: how big are they? (adult length, wingspan, weight) What's they're typical lifespan? etc. StringCheesian 22:30, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
It says that 'keas need animal fats to survive', but I thought keas were originally able to obtain the amount of fatty proteins and so forth from certain plants they ate, and it was only as those became scarce with humans populating the area that keas had to adapt (and therefore start preying on live animals). Also, I think that most of the domestic animals they preyed on were sheep, in the same sort of area... though I'm not entirely sure. -Ouwl
- Philip Temple says, on page 38 of The Book of the Kea (1996), that keas may now need human food sources in some areas due to missing nutritional elements. This is phrased tentatively, and he goes on to imply introduced browsers (e.g. deer, goats etc) would be to blame, not humans directly. He also discusses the fact that keas are observed to eat insects, worms, grubs, eggs and even chicks without seeming to indicate this is at all unnatural, and says that getting adequate fat and protein from plants would usually require "intensive and continual foraging". -- Avenue 13:37, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Intelligence
I just saw a documentary about Keas on TV that showed how intelligent they are. I'm amazed of how their understanding of mechanisms and even grasping abstract thinking. My thesis is in AI so this has seriously atracted my attention.
[edit] Make over
just started to redo the page, will split it up in several sections. i am currently working with the species and glad for any input. Please allow some time to finish up. Started on November 5. --Mpesendorfer 20:34, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Photos
It would be great to have a photo of a Kea showing its nice red feathers, even better if it was in flight. Soupisgoodfood 13:12, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
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- in the meantime, I've added an illustration from showing the red underwing feathers. Kahuroa 19:08, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The table
Any ideas for reorganising the table of foods consumed so that it is wide rather than long? Might try it out on the Māori wikipedia and see how it goes Kahuroa 19:08, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Reverted to Avenue's version
Sorry Casliber, but your edits had the Kākāpō and the Kākā and the Antipodes parakeet forming a clade distinct from all other parrots. That seems highly unlikely and was not the sense of the article up till then, and because several edits had been made, I thought it was simpler to revert to Avenue's version rather than try and do a partial restore. Kahuroa 05:50, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] To-do List
The article is shaping up nicely actually and could make it to FA like Kakapo has.
Some obvious things to do:
- embellish description
- polish and expand lead (I figured list of NZ parrots better in distribution)
- reorganize food table...
thoughts?
(Modelling the page on Kakapo may be a good idea...)cheers, Casliber | talk | contribs 13:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
PS: Galleries as such seem to be frowned on - better is a link to Wikicommons and use images next to relevant text (eg nice painting next to description) cheers, Casliber | talk | contribs 13:16, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
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- Changed the intro a bit: disagree that the Kea is "drab". It might not be bright blue and yellow, but it is a beautifully coloured bird. Also removed the sentence from the intro about the theory about the Kākā, Kea and Kākāpō forming a distinct group, since further on in the text it is pointed out that this theory has not won acceptance as of yet, and so it is wrong to highlight it in the opening sentences. Restored missing macrons etc, and removed extraneous -s from the plural. Kahuroa 14:19, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Gallery
I moved the gallery off the page and added a link to the commons. We need to make sure that these images are moved to the commons and then we can get rid of theme here. Sabine's Sunbird talk 21:10, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
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Kea3.jpg
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[edit] Not the only alpine parrot
I clarified the references to the Kea being the only alpine parrot in the world. A few species of Andean parrots (notably parakeets in the genus Bolborhynchus, see: avianweb) also range well above tree-line. And in the tropical Andes, treeline is much higher than the elevations that were listed here for the Kea. I've seen B. aurifrons near 3,800 m.a.s.l.. Fredwerner 12:40, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
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- Hey thanks, that's really interesting. Kahuroa 18:57, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] ...now about that table..
OK folks, what shall we do about the table? I'd summarise it but I have no idea which plants are more notable or important than any others. Shall we archive it on the talk page, modify it or...what? Otherwise I think it is a good GA candidate.cheers, Cas Liber | talk | contribs 06:30, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
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- We could get rid of the table or as you say, summarise it. You can download the issue of Notornis which contains the article and the table here. Here's what precedes the table (it's Table 4, on pp 111-112) in the article (this from the bottom of page 110:
FOOD One hundred and ninety-nine items of food seen to be taken by Keas were recorded (Table 4). Fruits of Coprosma pseudocuneafa were frequently eaten (68 occurrences), although this may be related to availability. Up to 53 seeds of C. pseudocuneata were counted in some faeces, with seecis of other species less abundant. During peak fruiting periods of C. pseudocuneata most faeces consisted entirely of these seeds and fibrous parts of the fruit. Voided C. pseudocuneata seeds germinated on moist soil. In February 1965 following this observation, faeces containing seeds of C. pseudocuneafa, Cyathodes fraseri, Muehlenbeckia axillaris, Pentarhondra pumila, Podocarpus nivalis and Astelia nervosa were collected and covered with soil in an enclosure to determine the general effects on viability of passage through the Kea's gut. All except A. nervosa germinated within two months but all died soon after a heavy snowfall in April. A. nervosa had not germinated after 18 months.
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- There is a bit more about food on pages 113-4:
The frequency with which some foods are eaten (Table 4) does not necessarily rzflect preference. Coprosma serrulata, for example, is rare at Cupola Basin, but was observed being eaten six times; it could thus be ranked as a preferred food. Conversely, C. pseudocuneata is widespread throughout Cupola Basin, it bears fruit between September and June (subject to snow conditions) and 114 NOTORNIS Vol. XVII is the most prolific berrying plant in the area. High use may therefore reflect availability rather than preference. At Arthur's Pass, Canterbury, Jackson (1960) notes that the fruits of C. pseudocuneatas are unattractive to Keas. Often only a small part of the food selected was eaten. On the isolated occasions when Keas were seen catching grasshoppers (Table 4), they ate few in relation to the numbers caught. Similar wasteful behaviour occurred when flowers, branchlets and entire plants were removed.
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- Hope that helps. Kahuroa 06:48, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Classification section
Wouldn't this be better moved onto and merged with the same section on the Nestor (genus) article? Some of it is already there, and if it's needed here, why isn't it also repeated on Kākā? And the meaning of the bit about 'fossil evidence' contradicting the DNA study is not clear to me - how does it contradict. Plus it needs a citation Kahuroa 02:52, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
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- Ug - I cna't even remember if it was me or someone else who put the bit about fossil evidence. I do vaguely recall reading it somewhere. Nevermind, will have a look sometime. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:47, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
- Cheers bro, clarity is king... Kahuroa 07:27, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Sheep
Was there any actual evidence that the Kea attack sheep? I've heard it described as a 'myth' by some, and the only refs here are to early 20th C materials (although shooting was legal til 86). I don't know enough either way to change the text, but would appreciate feedback. Mostlyharmless (talk) 00:01, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
- Their carnivorous tendencies are dealt with in a well references book, reviewed here. Sabine's Sunbird talk 00:12, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
- There's some great nighttime video footage of them attacking sheep in the documentary Kea - the smartest parrot?, about 16 minutes in. Seeing is believing. It also shows kea preying on Hutton's Shearwater chicks. -- Avenue (talk) 01:07, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
--203.97.222.233 (talk) 06:55, 5 May 2008 (UTC)Steph Sander!!--203.97.222.233 (talk) 06:55, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
