Huangmei Opera

The far right one : Oriental Magpie-Robin (鵲鴝)
China (2014)
6th July, 2014. Tianhau East, Guangzhou

Huangmei or Huangmei tone originated as a form of rural folksong and dance that has been in existence for the last 200 years and possibly longer. The music is performed with a pitch that hits high and stays high for the duration of the song. It is unique in the sense that it does not sound like the typical rhythmic Chinese opera. In the 1960s Hong Kong counted the style as much as an opera as it was a music genre. Today it is more of a traditional performance art with efforts of revival in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Huangmei Government at Hubei province was officially considered as the place of origin of Huangmei opera.

75 years of Adlerwarte Berlebeck

Pictorial postmark : Red Kite (紅鳶)
Germany (2014)
22th June, 2014. Detmold

The Adlerwarte Berlebeck is a bird park in the district of Detmold Berlebeck. It was founded in 1939 by husband and wife Kati and Adolf Deppe and is now an institution of the city of Detmold. Not only because of their location near the Hermann Monument in the Teutoburg Forest is a popular destination and in recent years, more than 100,000 visitors each after Berlebeck.

Nicely landscaped and located on the flight of birds on a low ridge, the Adlerwarte Berlebeck is a home to 46 different raptor species with a total of about 200 raptors. During the season several times a day instead of free-flight demonstrations. For this purpose a revolving stage was set up with 160 seats. In a teaching and information center Find out more about birds of prey, the history of falconry and the tasks of the Eagle is mediated in wildlife conservation.

2010 International Year of Biodiversity

From left to right :
75c : Green Iguana (美洲鬣蜥) ; 95c : Hercules Beetle (長戟大兜蟲)
$2,50 : White-breasted Thrasher (白胸嘲鶇) ; 30c : Saint Lucia Lobelia (聖露西亞半邊蓮)
St Lucia (2010)
12th June, 2014. Castries

Saint Lucia has been in the forefront of the movement to save the biodiversity of the world as it is a small island developing state with many endemic species. Notable successes include the conservation of the Saint Lucia parrot which is found in Saint Lucia and nowhere else in the world and has been brought back from the brink of extinction in the late 1970s to now having over 1500 birds flying free in the wild at the last count done in 2009 by a newly designed scientific survey. The public awareness campaign using Jacquot, the affectionate name of the bird, as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation from 1979-1989, the Jacquot Consolidation Campaign of 1990-1991, the designation of the bird as the National Bird in 1979, the same year that Saint Lucia attained independence, the designation of the Saint Lucia rain forest as a parrot sanctuary all contributed to the successful efforts to conserve this parrot. Saint Lucia is very grateful for the help that it has obtained for these successes from its various partners including the Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust and the RARE Centre for Tropical Conservation. The efforts of the Forestry Department must be commended in this regard.

The country can also boast of the rehabilitation of the latanye and mauby plant species important for the livelihoods of many rural people. Through the diligent efforts of the Forestry Department, the plants are now being cultivated by farmers. As a result, the broom and beverage producers can continue their livelihoods. The Aupicon Charcoal Producers is another case in point of individuals benefitting from using biological resources for their livelihoods. For many years, working with the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute and the Fisheries and Forestry Departments, charcoal producers of Vieux Fort would cut the stems of mangrove plants in the Mankote Mangrove without denuding the mangrove forests and the trees would always regenerate.

The Saint Lucia Whiptail lizard which was found only on The Maria Islands has now been successfully translocated to Praslin Island, Dennery Island and Rat Island by the Forestry Department, providing a safety net for this lizard where the male has the colours of the Saint Lucia flag. There are over one thousand individuals of these species living in the wild.

Eurasian Woodcock

 

Eurasian Woodcock (丘鷸)
Austria (2014)
16th May, 2014. Hirtenberg

Eurasian woodcock is a medium-small wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Eurasia. It has cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with reddish-brown upperparts and buff-coloured underparts. Its eyes are set far back on its head to give it 360-degree vision and it probes in the ground for food with its long, sensitive bill, making it vulnerable to cold weather when the ground remains frozen.

The male performs a courtship flight known as 'roding' at dusk in spring. When threatened, the female can carry chicks between her legs, in her claws or on her back while flying, though this is rarely witnessed. The world population is estimated to be 14 million to 16 million birds.