DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Cheeky New Zealand parrot becomes a living drone when it steals family’s GoPro

Feb 4, 2022 by Alex Baker 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Anyone who has visited New Zealand’s Fiordlands will be familiar with the native parrot the Kea. It’s known for its intelligence and curiosity, and can now also add ‘avid drone pilot’ to its list of skills when it flew off with a GoPro.

The Verhuel family had just taken a break from a long hiking trip along the Keplar Track in New Zealand’s South Island when they were joined at the hut by a group of cheeky birds.

The family placed their GoPro on the fence in order to capture some footage of the parrots. All was going well until one particularly bold bird decided it wanted to try out its filming skills. As quick as a flash, the kea ran down the ledge, snatched up the camera and flew off before anyone could react.

You can see from the video that the kea then flew off down a forested slope before it landed on a rocky outcrop to inspect the camera, pulling chunks of the plastic off with its beak.

Fortunately, the family was able to locate the camera again by following the calls of the birds and were able then to recover the avian footage. “We just followed the sound down there, we could see them hanging out in a tree – they’d obviously heard us coming and abandoned the GoPro,” Alex Verheul told Seven Sharp. He continued, “my son decided to go check the rocks where it looked like a good place for a bird to land, and there it was still sitting there, still filming.”

Indeed, the keas are renowned for their mischievous behaviour. It’s common for tourists to have wallets, packed lunches and even windscreen wipers stolen by the parrots. It’s not the first time an animal has gone Steven Spielberg and made their own short film, but this might be a first for a live animal drone. The French brand Parrot that makes drones should perhaps take note!

[Via The Guardian]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Parrot Want In On The Photo Market, Has A New Drone: Bebop Parrot dumps the toy drones to focus on the enterprise market Canon pokes fun at Nikon’s photo competition blunder with cheeky social media post Cheeky Photo Series Shows What It’s Like To Be A Tourist On Mars

Filed Under: news Tagged With: drone, new zealand, Parrot Drones, wildlife photography

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.net

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« Historical glass negatives sold as NFTs and buyers told to smash originals
 K|Lens One light field lens cancels its Kickstarter campaign »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • This is how to get photography clients on Instagram – even with few followers
  • “I prefer using smaller cameras” – an unorthodox take on size
  • A pigeon scares a meteorologist as it photobombs a live camera
  • Photographer files lawsuit against NFL receiver and teams after shoving incident
  • Comparing iPhone 13 vs iPhone 14 for astrophotography

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy