The team at Mt Hutt celebrated recently as a kea paid a visit to the mountain.
The native alpine parrot, believed to be a juvenile male, is the first to be seen at Mt Hutt in three years providing a fitting end to Conservation Week.
‘Badger’ from the Mt Hutt roads crew spotted the cheeky bird while he was out monitoring the road and called it in to the rest of the team over the radio.
Ski area manager James McKenzie says watching staff react to the news was a special moment to witness.
“As soon as the call went out on the radio our whole team started celebrating. It was all anyone could talk about for the rest of the afternoon, we were all very stoked.”
One of Mt Hutt’s goals is to bring native birds like the kea and kƒÅrearea (New Zealand Falcon) back to the mountain and James says seeing one on the weekend was a conservation win.
“It’s awesome to see kea back here at Hutt. We’ve been working really hard to provide a safe and habitable environment for our native birds like the kea and kƒÅrearea to return to.”
Over the past couple of years Mt Hutt has focused their efforts on an extensive predator control programme and habitat management through the planting more than 1200 native Manuka and Totara trees along the access road last spring.
“Our trapping programme is run year round and to date has seen over 450 pests removed from our environment. Seeing a kea back up here hopefully means our work is paying off. We’ve noticed he’s returned today (Monday) so we’ll be keeping watch through the rest of the winter season to see if hangs around or brings any friends,” James says.
