Kea Fieldwork: What it Takes to Save Mountain Parrots (part 2 with Lydia McLean)

“I hold hope for the future of kea in that they are smart and adaptable birds, but we really need to act to help them on their way.”

And it takes a special kind of people to do exactly that: you need equal parts physical endurance, technical mountaineering expertise, and adaptive problem-solving in some of Aotearoa’s most challenging environments.

Picture this: walking a thousand metres straight up alpine terrain with tramping packs loaded with camping gear and scientific equipment. Then spending days catching and banding kea, or triangulating radio signals with directional aerials through unmarked backcountry to locate a single nesting female. This is the reality behind the data points that drive kea conservation.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Lydia McLean from the Kea Conservation Trust (KCT),  ...