A ground dwelling parrot from New Zealand? While I wish I had come across kakapo, I’ll take a close encounter with a cheeky little bird from subantarctic Antipode Island.
Little bird is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the Antipode Island Parakeet (Cyanoramphus unicolor) is actually the largest species of its genus. My mind always defaults to parrots being associated with tropical rainforests, so imagining these guys walking amongst seals and penguins is quite fascinating to me.
Being restricted to a single island can always make a species vulnerable no matter how adaptable. Luckily, a small breeding population is found in captivity on mainland New Zealand where I was able to view this very neat bird at the Otorohanga kiwi house.
Studia Mirabilium 
You may be aware that Antipodes parakeets are also partially carnivorous, making up a chunk of their diet scavenging on corpses and stealing eggs around said seabird colonies. I don’t believe they are as actively predatory as keas, though.
The Antipodes are also home to two Cyanoramphus species, the other being Reischek’s parakeet C. hochstetteri which is a lot more similar to the mainland red-crowned parakeet. Both are presumably derived from colonisation by the red-crowned parakeet, with the Antipodes parakeet deriving from an earlier colonisation than Reischek’s, in a similar process to the multiple swamphen colonisations on the New Zealand mainland.
Hi Chris, I have heard of this but don’t know the details; thanks for the insight.
Would you happen to know if North and South Island Takahe were each others closest relatives and a product of vicariance or separate swamphen colonizations?
I think that’s still an open question. There’s also the white swamphen of Lord Howe Island to throw into the mix.