Kea Encounter Milford Sound Road, New Zealand

Описание: 6.24.2016 I was driving the incredible road from Te Anau to Milford Sound when I stopped just after exiting the Homer Tunnel, on the Milford Sound side. I was taking some pictures and video when I heard the familiar cry of a Kea. As the video shows, he hopped RIGHT UP to me....my camera was on a monopod with a fluid head, and he was so close that I couldn't tilt down fast enough or far enough to see him. And I apologize for the occasionally awkward camerawork. It's easier to follow a wild parrot when it's 10 feet away....far harder to follow it when it's mere inches from the lens, and hopping all over the place!!

The Kea parrots are the world's only alpine parrots, and one of the largest in the world. They are usually 18-19 inches long and are extremely intelligent! They have no natural enemies, and you can see from the video why the locals call them "cheeky". This particular Kea was very unafraid of me, and I had to watch my fingers when I tried to shoo him away from my car doors. Keas LOVE LOVE LOVE to chew on neoprene rubber--like door gaskets, windshield wipers, and the like. And they are so intelligent they can figure out complex, multi-step tasks (and will even work in concert with other Keas!) to do things like open your food cooler, unzip your tents, and all sorts of mischievous things to get at any food supply. And if you don't have food....they love neoprene rubber on your car!

What made this encounter so amazing to me was not only how long it lasted (and you can tell that for most if it I was NOT zoomed in at all, but as wide an angle as I could get) but also how personable he was. I only stopped filming when I realized it was going to take two hands to shoo him away from the door gaskets of my brand new rental Toyota Highlander (with only 500 miles on it!)

When I finally left he was still on the roof of my car. I started driving slowly--only 10, 15mph if that--and he stayed on my roof. Eventually I heard him take off--and then he paced me, flying alongside my driver's side window looking at me with a "hey, where are you going?" look! I've never encountered anything like this cheeky fellow.

And at the very end of the video is a short segment showing a New Zealand gas pump. They charge gas by the litre, not the gallon, and each litre was about $1.98NZ, which comes to about $1.41US. So it was a shock to pay nearly $50NZ for less than 7 gallons! I shot this in 4K (hopefully YouTube will allow for 4K playback) on my Sony AX100 4K Camcorder.