Page 72 - 2008 NZ Subantarctic Islands

mention the wonderful tunnel because it was at the entrance to

its opening we had our last wildlife sightings where the creatures
do “belong” to DOC. We were fortunate enough to see two rock

wrens at their nest feeding their little ones. The nest was quite
near the roadway actually—the birds had an entire valley filled

with rocks so it was peculiar that they chose such a public place!
The best sighting here was a group of the cheeky, curious,
constantly chewing, comical clown of the NZ avian world—the

endemic alpine parrot, the Kea. We had encountered these
mischievous and ubiquitous imps when we had done the Milford

Track back in 1987. They would light upon your backpacks picking
at straps and zipper pulls with their stout beaks. They would

divebomb our picnic site, swooping in to snatch our sandwich
right from our hand, they stole anything we had sitting out on the

table if they could lift it and they are prodigiously strong. But all
the while we never become angry because they were so funny
and cute! Well, here at Homer Tunnel, we met them again and in

22 years their nature has certainly not changed a bit. They were
pecking the rubber on windshield wipers of cars around them.

They were cadging snacks from all of us standing around our van.
They would stoop to outright thievery if nothing was offered.

They would swoop right across the tops of our heads, checking for
loose caps to steal. They squawked and bickered like all parrots

do. But we were just as amused by their antics as we were years
before.

The Kea is one of the world’s only alpine parrots and he lives in
the high mountains even during heavy winter snows. He has a

very strong, down-curved and sharp beak which he uses most
intelligently. He can open garbage cans, bird feeders, animals

traps, and has a quite logical approach to stubborn obstacles. I
saw one move logs placed atop garbage cans so that he could get

at the contents. I saw another remove a large piece of wood used
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