Balclutha resident Oliver Tunnah was fishing with a friend on Saturday when he encountered the unexpected visitor.
"I had to work out what kind of bird it was to start with and I was like ‘oh s... this is a kea’."
The kea was playful and inquisitive — landing on cars, bags and fishing rods, even stealing a chip or two.
Locals decided to ring the Department of Conservation after concerns about its safety as it was being chased by children, he said.
Doc was just as surprised as he was.
"They didn’t believe me at first until I sent them a photo."
Doc found the kea and took it to the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital on Sunday, Mr Tunnah said.
A hospital spokeswoman said it was odd but not unheard of for kea to venture away from the mountains — last year a kea was sighted a few times on Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch.
"Being a juvenile, it probably just got a bit lost and disorientated flying around and couldn’t find its way back home."
The sighting was a little concerning because it was easy to catch and it was interacting with people, she said.
That indicated it was not thriving and was seeking people out for food.
However, apart from being a little light on body weight, the kea was in a reasonable condition.
It was very bright and eating well.
They would take head and bill measurements to determine its sex and put an ID band on it.
The hospital was in consultation with Doc and the Kea Conservation Trust about finding an appropriate release site once it had been given a clean bill of health, the spokeswoman said.
