They will fly around and laugh

I found a wonderful story about keas on GoogleNews New Zealand. Apparently there is going to be a classic car rally in Mt Cook, and the organizers have hired the local karate club members to protect the valuable cars from keas. (For the non-Kiwis reading, keas are New Zealand alpine parrots, which enjoy destroying cars.)

A Department of Conservation ranger said he didn't think the karate club members would be very effective, because the keas would be able to avoid them.

"They will fly around and laugh," he said.

He said the keas would move from one end of the village to the other, easily eluding the car bodyguards.

"I think it's a huge joke."

Apart from relocating the birds, there was no way of stopping them, he said.

"They don't like being squirted with water pistols, so that's quite a good way to deter them - just momentarily."

I thought this was a great story. I like the idea of karate club members running around squirting water pistols, and keas flying around and laughing.

But then I looked up some more about the kea, and found that the Parrot Society of New Zealand has this article on their website, which contains some information about keeping keas in captivity. They need to be entertained, apparently, and after suggesting an entertainment area for the birds, the article adds this:

A further method of entertaining the Kea (or its owner) is to spray them with the garden hose - they love it.

This made me go HMMMMM, and wonder: Could this be why the DoC ranger is so sure they will fly around and laugh?