Kea......

......the only alpine parrot in the world......

The sun shone as we left Punakaiki, it was time to drive home but first we must stop at Arthur's Pass to see if by chance any Kea were around.

Well they were......you can imagine how excited I was!! 

Some lovely shots taken today and some with wings spread wide. The range of colours is stunning, outside feathers with greens and blues while the underside bright, bright orange - wow!! I adored their cheeky inquisitive manner as they leaped from car to car pecking at rubber round the windscreens, drinking from cracks in posts, playing with a bottle top and flying small distances before playing again. These shots are of youngsters, perhaps the lads of the flock.

A happy couple of hours was spent round the lookout areas. I loved talking to tourists about Kea, some knew nothing about them and were keen to learn, while others had printed off sheets from DOC and were busy recording the tags of the Kea sighted which would then be upload. DOC are keen to learn the whereabouts of all Kea as they are sadly on the decline and all is being done to try and get the numbers back up.

It was then time to hit the road again, through Arthur's Pass Village we went, pass Lake Pearson, Castle Hill, Lake Lyndon before heading down into the Canterbury Plains. The area in which we passed through always amazes me with it's breath-taking scenery, rugged mountains, huge rock formations, tiny creeks, there are no two days the same - a photographers paradise!

So this is now a very late backblip......we've been away through some of March and most of April, then busy times at home on our return. It's good to catch up, warm thanks to everyone who has stopped by :))

My next challenge is.......to capture Kea in flight against bush rather than a manmade background, let's hope it doesn't take another 8 years to sight them :))