Kea

While in Auckland, because the weather looked like it would sour my afternoon ramble, I decided to head to the zoo to see a Kiwi instead (more on that to come). 

The zoo has brilliant aviaries that replicate forests that you can walk through both the ground and treetops of.

I saw a Kea feeding on a rock, and it seemed content to let me photograph it.

The Kea is a large bird in the parrot family that is found in the forest and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. It nests in burrows or the crevices in the roots of trees.

Sadly, this extremely smart bird (that can apparently solve logic puzzles according to wiki) was once killed by humans as they feared it would attack sheep, so now it is uncommon (though protected since 1986). It remains endangered.

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