[EdwardDiego]

I've spent many an hour watching my favourite brainiac birds, kea [0] interact, their vocalizations aren't as complex as, say, a tūī or a minah, but they also use facial expressions (for want of a better phrase) intensively when communicating. And their capacity for knowledge transfer is top tier. Once one kea figures out a new way to get food, then soon all their buddies will know the technique too.

Which is cool, but sucks if their new technique is used to get _your_ food.

One year there was a group of kea who would effectively mug solo hikers who'd set up camp. They'd break into your tent and/or backpack by undoing the zips, and would use decoy kea to distract you while doing so (a group of parrots pulling out your tent pegs or removing your bootlaces is very distracting indeed.)

And at a popular photo stop [1], they have their routine for fleecing tourists down pat - a couple of kea will cavort charmingly to get your attention, and when you start taking photos, their accomplices will then try to access your bag, or even your car if you left the door open...

[0]: https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/kea

[1]: https://nzbushadventures.blogspot.com/2022/05/otira-viaduct-...