A kleptomaniac parrot became the last contributor to New Zealand cinema after stealing a GoPro camera and taking it on a sweeping tour of remote Fiordland.
Aotearoa’s native alpine parrot, the kea, is known for its bizarre and scandalous nature – and for hitting wallets, jewelry, packaged meals, wipers and other valuables by unsuspecting tourists and visitors.
said the Verheul family local TV show Seven Sharp they had been hiking on Kepler’s track and were staying in a hut when a Kea joined them.
They set up the GoPro to shoot the birds – but one grabbed the camera and flew away, filming its flight up the hillside.
GoPro records the airborne escape, as well as the kea landing and the brief, slightly frantic attack on the camera – finally filming a close-up of the bird’s face as it removes pieces of plastic.
Alex Verheul told Seven Sharp: “We listened to the sound down there, we could see them hanging from a tree – apparently they heard us coming and left the GoPro… My son decided to go check out the rocks where it looked good a place for a bird to land, and there it was still sitting there, still shooting. “
