Moa on the Kea

Well, I found Kea: Bird of Paradox for sale on The Internets and got a copy. This is the definitive book on the parrot I've mentioned before, which lives only on the south island of New Zealand. Some salient points:

• Isolated from other gene pools for millenia, New Zealand is an evolutionary alternate reality. Jared Diamond says it "is as close as we will get to the opportunity to study life on another planet."
• Before humans arrived, New Zealand was dominated by birds. One that evolved into a classic mammalian niche was the Moa, which was perhaps as large as an ostrich, but much heavier. Specialized predators evolved to eat it, notably Haast's eagle. Sporting a ten-foot wingspan it was "probably the largest eagle that ever lived" (went extinct 1,000 years ago, the Moa lasted a few centuries longer). Given the carnage this thing and other airborne predators caused, it is not surprising that the kea, which started out as a parrot, evolved into an intelligent and versatile scavenger.
• First civilized man to record the existence of the Kea: Captain Cook.
  
• Today, "the kea has evolved a level of intelligence and flexibility that rivals that of the most sophisticated monkeys."
• "Truly omnivorous" and "enormously resilient, keas feed on nearly any accessible resource" including: roots, bulbs, stems, fruit, berries, nectar, pollen, grasshoppers, beetle grubs, other insects, carrion, garbage, and sheep. Yes, sheep.
• "This flexibility is the hallmark of what has been called an 'open program' species - one that specializes in learning and in applying its skills in new ways to new circumstances."
• The kea got into the sheep business after the American Civil War. During the war wool prices had been high (since the southern U.S. was blockaded), and they crashed when it was over. On New Zealand's south island, "9 out of 10 runholders in the Marlborough District were virtually bankrupt." To save money, they fired the shepherds and let the sheep run unsupervised. Additionally, they tossed the dead ones into uncovered pits. These two trends were like opening a buffet line for the intelligent and opportunistic kea. "In March of 1884 the sheep inspector at Queenstown reported that keas had attacked a flock...and killed 200 sheep in a single night."
  
• Keas wreck stuff. A single kea got into a guy's house through the chimney and destroyed everything.
• Their social structure is nonlinear. "That is, if bird A dominates bird B and bird B dominates bird C, that does not guarantee that bird A will also dominated bird C."
  
• They'll mess with feral cats by pulling on their tails.
  
• They mob falcons that attack them - no observer has seen successful predation by a falcon on a kea.
• Keas play all the time, which the authors believe reinforces their behavioral flexibility. "The prevalence and intensity of their play is unique among birds."
  
• "Demolition is strongly socially facilitated..." If one kea is pecking at something, a bunch more will come out of nowhere and just start whaling on it.
• They steal food from each other, the only parrot in which this behavior has been documented. This includes social spoofing - a subadult will approach a feeding bird in a submissive pose, then jump in and grab its food.
• They wreck cars. A couple of hikers left their soft-top Jeep unguarded. A band of keas cut through the top, chewed up the seats, and tore out all the wiring.
  
• People who live near keas "wire their garbage cans down and anchor them with concrete blocks, cover their television antennas with PVC piping, and close off chimneys and other attractive openings with chicken wire."

"What does not destroy me makes me stronger. Awk!"