Whale-headed Stork

Whale-headed Stork (鯨頭鸛)
Central African Republic (1999)
6th July, 2009. Bangui (Philatelic Bureau)

Whale-headed Stork is one large species in Balaenicipitidae (鸛形目) family, it only lives in tropical rain forest and wetland. Its bill looks similar with whale but it coloured in pink. From eastern African countries like Sudan, Chad, Uganda, Central Africa to southern countries like Rwanda and Zambia can find its image, it also appears in West Africa but rarely can see them. The bird now listed as endangered species due to the population decreasing, it caused by illegal hunting, the change of resident area and there damaged by human. Only 5000 to 8000 birds mostly can be found in Sudan.

First flight cover

Wilson's Storm Petrel (黃蹼洋海燕)
Portugal (2008)
29th March, 2009. Lisbon

From March 29, Lufthansa Italia begins to operate new business flight between Milan bound and Lisbon, an aircraft Airbus A319 is allowance on this flight which is brand new for this new airline. The flight operates daily from Milan on 1030 (flight LH1808) and 1300 to Milan (flight LH1809). Portugal post office have a special postmark to commemorate this event, and above cover is an example for the first flight LH1809 from Lisbon to Milan, unfortunately date postmark of Lisbon Airport and arrival postmark of Milan are omitted.

Two Wilson's Storm Petrel stamps are franked on this cover enough for 30g priority mail within EU area, the stamp issued on 2008 for International Polar Year and has been shown here before. In summer, Wilson's Strom Petrel widely lives in offshore of eastern North America, from SPM to Mexico ; Europe and northern Africa. And breeds on the coastline of Antarctic. The bird spends whole year on the sea except they are breeding.

Tourist mail (1)

L : Ibex (北山羊) ; R : Steller's Sea Eagle (虎頭海雕)
China (2001)
5th April, 2008. Zhongshan (Southern district), Guangdong

When I travel to somewhere, there will be sent a mail back to my home if it is possible. Here is one example of the short trip to Zhongshan, a township near south-west of Canton. The cover features two stamps come from wild animals sheetlet issued on 2001. Ibex lives in grasslands and mountain area of desert range, mostly can be found in Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Steller's Sea Eagle is the most heaviest eagle in the world, widely breeds in the offshore of Volcanoes of Kamchatka and Sea of Okhotsk, Amur and north of Sakhalin. In winter they migrate to Kuril Islands and Hokkaidō. Nowadays, these two species are listed as endangered species and protected by law in China.

J.J. Audubon

L : Band-tailed Pigeon (帶尾鴿) ; R : Snowy Egret (美洲雪鷺)
France (1995)
5th November, 2007. Bercy, Paris

John James Audubon (1785-1851) is a French-American ornithologist and artist, he borne in France but immigrated to United States in 1803. He drawn a lot of drawings of birds and natural when he discovered the colourful field live of North America. Later in 1826, he began to publish his work and popular books Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America.

The cover shown here is feature two stamps issued by France to commemorate 200th anniversary of J.J. Audubon's birthday, illustrations are selected from his works. As description of above, all of his works drawn in field area of North America, Band-tailed Pigeon and Snowy Egret are very common species in there.

American Heritage

Turkey (火雞)
Portugal (2007)
12th October, 2007. Pombal

Turkey originally lives in North America, it also a main food of North and Latin America. In 16th to 19th centuries, the bird imported to Portugal and Europe continent as food after the discovery of America. meantime other foods like sweet potato, maize, cocoa and passion fruit also transformed from those navigators who travel between Europe and new continent. Above illustration of Turkey was drawn by Pierre Gourdelle on 1555, a famous French artist of birds and plants. In this period, many European artist drawn enormous illustrations of new species from this new continent.

Aquatic wildlife

FrontFrom left to right :
100 F : African Elephantnose (箭形長頜魚)
160 F : White-faced Whistling Duck (白臉樹鴨)
70 F : Collared Kingfisher (白領翡翠) ; 120 F : Ornate Horned Frog (鍾角蛙)
Burkina Faso (1988)

BackRed-fronted Gazelle (紅額瞪羚)
Burkina Faso (1993)
29th July, 2009. Ouagadougou
via France

Here is another mail from newest African series, Burkina Faso is located in West Africa and southern of Sahara. As Volta River flows through its country, Burkina Faso was named Upper Volta but it renamed on 1984. Same as other African countries, Burkina Faso also can find many species inside its national parks and reserve areas.

Above cover franked a set of aquatic wildlife stamps and a set of Red-fronted Gazelle WWF stamps on both sides, unfortunately only White-faced Whistling Duck and Red-fronted Gazelle can be found in West Africa, White-faced Whistling Duck is a resident bird mainly lives in south of Sahara and South America, it normally appears waterfront of ponds and lakes, mostly eats seeds and plants. Red-fronted Gazelle also widely lives in south of Sahara, from Senegal to Ethiopia, it now facing decreasing of population.

The mail sent by philatelic bureau of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso via France to Hongkong. The post office of France affixed one more registered label on the mail to record the status, however it overlapped the stamps at front side and I moved to back side when the mail arrived.

Seabirds of Norfolk islands

From left to right :
$1,00 ; Black Noddy (黑燕鷗) ; 10c : Red-tailed Tropicbird (紅尾熱帶鳥)
25c : White Tern (白玄鷗) ; 40c : Sooty Tern (烏燕鷗)
70c : Black-winged Petrel (黑翅圆尾鸌)
Norfolk Island (2005, 2006)
8th July, 2009. Norfolk Island

Continuous to show seabirds in this blog, this time selected a cover from Norfolk Island, an offshore island of east Australia, and it located in the north of New Zealand, neighbourhood with Fiji and New Caledonia.

More than 110 species and four are endemic to the island, above 5 species are very common can be found in there but they are not endemic species.

Chinese Crested Tern

Chinese Crested Tern (黑嘴端鳳頭燕鷗)
Taiwan (2002)
4th June, 2009. Taipei

Chinese Crested Tern now has be listed as critically endangered species, only 100 birds left in Taiwan, offshore islands of China and the Philippines. Birdwatchers thought it was extinct before they rediscovered four pairs of Chinese Crested Tern in Matsu, Taiwan on 2000. It looks similar with Sandwich Tern (白嘴端燕鷗) and Lesser Crested Tern (小鳳頭燕鷗), especially only the colour of bill is different than Sandwich Tern, which Chinese Crested Tern is black but other is white. Nowadays most of islands of Matsu has been built up as national park to protect wild birds and other species, in the past as there was prohibit area, birds can safety bleed their eggs not be stolen by people.

Thanks James for this cover, and he also sent me a cover with whole sheet of stamp from Matsu, however it is too large for scanner and can't be shown in here.

Golden Oriole

Golden Oriole (金黃鸝)
Sweden (2005)
17th October, 2007. Kiruna

Golden Oriole is a common species which can be found in Eurasia, south Asia and middle east, it lives in woodlands and parks, especially in northern Europe, in summer it migrates to southern area like England, south Europe and northern Africa, However it is not easy to obverse as it lays under the leave as canopy, Golden Oriole looks yellow with blacked wings, tail and legs, also reddish bill, mostly eats insects and fruit.

Sweden is the type locality of nominate subspecies of Golden Oriole, another one Shinjang's subspecies Oriolus o. kundoo type locality at Dukhum, India.

Animals of Gabon

Front
100 F : Hippopotamus (河馬) ; 125 F : Common Duiker (灰霓羚)
225 F : Pink-backed Pelican (粉紅背鵜鶘)
Gabon (1998)

Back
Northeast Congo Lion (東北剛果獅)
Gabon (2000)
13th July, 2009. Libreville (Philatelic Bureau)
15th July, 2009. Libreville Central
16th July, 2009. Libreville
24th July, 2009. Hongkong

Gabon located in the central of Africa near Equator, neighbourhood with Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Equator Guinea and offshore islands country São Tomé e Príncipe. There are 13 national parks established by Gabon under the period of ex-president Omar Bongo (1935-2009), those parks can obverse many famous animals, birds and plants. Gabon post office issued huge number of animal and bird stamps after its independence. Here are four of them and one is bird.

Same as other pelicans, Pink-backed Pelican likes visible in ponds, seasonal flooding areas and wetlands. It nests in the tree, fish and amphibians are their main food. It widely can be found in Africa except northern African countries.

This cover sent through registered mail by philatelic bureau of Gabon, special thanks they affixed one more stamp on the back side of the envelope, it is an airmail stamp issued on 1980 to celebrate 50th anniversary of first aircraft fly to south Atlantic, the stamp now is quite expensive in market.

Pro juventute (1)

From left to right :
Eurasian Capercaillie (松雞) ; Woodchat Shrike (林鶺伯勞)
Firecrest (火冠戴菊)
Switzerland (1968)
14th July, 2009. Bern (Philatelic Bureau)

Each year, Swiss Post issues a set of children fund charity stamps on its final season. Mostly stamps are related to children like different faces of child, folk stories, tales or toys. In 1968 to 1971, there were four issues illustrated 16 domestic birds, the above cover with three block of four were issued on 1968. Thanks zasa of her great covers.

Eurasian Capercaille and Firecrest have been shown here before, but they issued by Spain, Turkey and Egypt separately. However, these three birds are very common in Switzerland, and they can be found in parks, forest and resident area.

Red Kite in southern Europe

Red Kite (紅鳶)
Gibraltar (1996)
25th June, 2009. Gibraltar
15th July, 2009. Hongkong

It is the third time to show Red Kite stamp in here, last two are Great Britain and Switzerland separately. In last post says that Red Kite is very common in continent of Europe, however in western and southern of Europe, especially along the seashore of the Mediterranean, it is rarely to find its appearance. In winter, there are small number of Red Kites fly over Gibraltar when they migrating from northern Europe to North Africa, this WWF issue illustrated the birds bleed and live around the fort at the top of Rock of Gibraltar.

On the back of this cover franked with one extra stamp Honey Buzzard (鳳頭蜂鷹), it is one of newest Gibraltar definitive stamps but will not show in here.

Definitive stamps of Malaysia

30 sen : Ochraceous Bulbul (白喉褐冠鵯)
50 sen : White-rumped Shama (白腰鵲鴝)
RM1 : Emerald Dove (翠翼鳩) ; 20 sen : Spotted Dove (珠頸斑鳩)
Malaysia (2005)
5th May, 2009. Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor

In 2005, Malaysia issued a set of 8 domestic bird definitive stamps, they seem beautiful but some values are quite expensive. Here is one cover franked with four of them, thanks Ronny of this cover and luckily it includes one high value stamp. However so pity that the postmarks are not clear to be identify.

Although some of these birds are very common in south-east Asia, they are not have much chance appear on the stamps. Example only four countries have been issued such stamps for Spotted Dove, but it easily can be found in parks or resident area. Ochraceous Bulbul is new star of bird theme too.

On the cover also franked with one Malay Peacock-pheasant (鳳冠孔雀雉), it has been shown in here before.