⭕️Wildlife in Oman

First row :
Indian Roller (棕胸佛法僧) ; Arabian Scops Owl (阿拉伯角鴞)
 Sooty Falcon (烟隼)
Second row :
Bruce's Green Pigeon (黃腹綠鳩) ; Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (藍頰蜂虎)
 Rüppell's Weaver (麗臉織布鳥) 
  Oman (2014)
26th August, 2015. Ruwi

Oman witnesses huge swarms of migratory birds during their seasonal journey between their nesting habitats and the places where they spend winters, especially those birds migrating from Europe and East Asia. Many birds, especially water fowl, migrate from faraway regions like northern Siberia, and travel about five thousand kilometres.

Visitors can see many species of birds in each of Oman’s different regions. Al Hikman Peninsula, Masirah Island, Al Wusta Governorate beaches, the Lagoons, the beaches and springs in Dhofar are ideal places for bird observation. Many of these species live in Dimaniyat Islands and in Musandam.

Indian Roller (棕胸佛法僧)
Oman (2014)
7th July, 2015. Ruwi

Birds of Tunisia

100m : White-headed Duck (白頭硬尾鴨) ; 600m : Ferruginous Duck (白眼潛鴨)
600m : Moussier's Redstart (摩希爾氏紅尾鴝) ; 600m : Marbled Duck (雲石斑鴨)
Tunisia (2004)
29th May, 2015. Bardoc

Tunisia is a country much undervisited by birders in the spring. It has plenty to offer both for bird-lovers and history-lovers, plus comfortable tourist resorts. white-headed duck is a small stiff-tailed duck. Adult males have a grey and reddish body, a blue bill and a largely white head with a black cap and neck. Adult females have a grey-brown body with a white face and a darker bill, cap and a cheek stripe. Length is 43–48 cm and weight is 580–750 g. Ferruginous Duck breeding habitat is marshes and lakes with a metre or more water depth. These ducks breed in southern and eastern Europe and southern and western Asia. They are somewhat migratory, and winter farther south and into north Africa. The adult male is a rich chestnut colour with a darker back and a yellow eye. The pure white undertail helps to distinguish this species from the somewhat similar tufted duck. The female is similar but duller, and with a dark eye.

Moussier's Redstart is a small passerine bird in the genus Phoenicurus, formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, but is now classified as an Old World flycatcher. It is an endemic resident breeder in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. Its habitat is open woodland in rocky areas from sea level up to 3000 m altitude in the mountains. Marbled Duck is a medium-sized duck. It used to be included among the dabbling ducks, but is now classed as a diving duck. The scientific name, Marmaronetta angustirostris, comes from the Greek marmaros, marbled and netta, a duck, and Latin angustus, narrow or small and rostris billed.

⭕️Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler (琵嘴鴨)
Belgium (2015)
30th May, 2015. Monk

Northern Shoveler is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its large spatulate bill. The breeding drake has an iridescent dark green head, white breast and chestnut belly and flanks. In flight, pale blue forewing feathers are revealed, separated from the green speculum by a white border. In early fall the male will have a white crescent on each side of the face. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake resembles the female.

The female is a drab mottled brown like other dabblers, with plumage much like a female mallard, but easily distinguished by the long broad bill, which is gray tinged with orange on cutting edge and lower mandible. The female's forewing is gray.

They are 48 cm long and have a wingspan of 76 cm (30 in) with a weight of 600 g.

⭕️Birds of Slovenia II

From left to right :
€0,01 : Great Crested Grebe (鳳頭鷿鷈); €0,02 : Stock Dove (歐鴿)
€0,05 : Black Stork (黑鸛) ; €0,20 : Kentish Plover (東方環頸鴴)
€0,50 : White-winged Snowfinch (白斑翅雪雀)
Slovenia (2015)
7th July, 2015. Službeno, Maribor

Slovenia continuous its bird definitive series on 2015, five stamps are Great Crested Grebe, Stock Dove, Black Stork, Kentish Plover and White-winged Snowfinch. Great Crested Grebe is the largest member of the grebe family found in the Old World, with some larger species residing in the Americas. They measure 46–51 cm long with a 59–73 cm wingspan and weigh 0.9 to 1.5 kg. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater. The adults are unmistakable in summer with head and neck decorations. In winter, this is whiter than most grebes, with white above the eye, and a pink bill. Stock Dove is the largest within the pigeon family, and has the widest distribution. Its members are typically pale grey or brown, often with white head or neck markings or iridescent green or purple patches on the neck and breast. The neck feathers may be stiffened and aligned to form grooves, but these are absent in this species. The stock dove is less grey in plumage than other pigeons in Europe.

With a body length of 90–100 cm, the black stork is slightly smaller than its cousin the white stork. The black stork is a shy bird that is highly sensitive to human presence and lives inwoodland in the vicinity of small streams or ditches. It builds its large nest in old trees, usually oak, in lowland wooded areas, forests. Occasionally it will build a nest on a suitable rock. It has one brood consisting of three to five chicks. Kentish Plover is 15 to 17 cm long and can be distinguished from the little ringed plover, which also nests in Slovenia, by the dark patches on the side of the breast and, in the male bird, by a sandy-brown cap. Generally speaking it has less black on its body than related species. It nests on the coast, in areas safe from floods, on salty soil with scant vegetation. The nest is simply a hollow in the
ground.

With a body length of 17–19 cm, the snowfinch is the largest passerine species in Slovenia. It inhabits inhospitable areas of rocky grassland and screes above the treeline; it is unconcerned by human presence. It likes to build its nest in crevices close to areas where the snow remains on the ground for a long time and surrounded by steep rock faces. It lays clutches of four to five eggs and has one to two broods a year.

Great Crested Grebe (鳳頭鷿鷈)
Slovenia (2015)
7th July, 2015. Službeno, Maribor

⭕️Antarctic Tern

Antarctic Tern (南極燕鷗)

French Australia and Antarctica Territories (2015)
1st January, 2015. Dumont D’Urville

Antarctic Tern is a typical tern. It ranges throughout the southern oceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but is stockier, and the wing tips are grey instead of blackish in flight. It is, of course, in breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has moulted to its non-breeding plumage.

Breeding takes place from mid-November to early December. Chicks hatch from December to February. Skuas and jaegers are the primary predators of this bird's eggs and young.

The total global population of this bird is around 140,000 individuals.

110th anniversary of Naardermeer Nature Reserve

Great Crested Grebe (鳳頭鸊鷉)

The Netherlands (2015)
28th April, 2015. Naarden-Energiestraat

Naardermeer Nature Reserve was the first-ever natural area to be managed by the Dutch Nature Preservation Society, having been acquired as early as 1906. “More than a century on, visitors continue to enjoy the lake, swamp forests and surrounding fields every day and see what a sanctuary this unique reserve represents for plants and animals. I would imagine that the stamps will inspire many nature lovers to visit Naardermeer Nature Reserve and enjoy the beautiful scenery and all that it has to offer”, said Marc van den Tweel, Managing Director of Natuurmonumenten.

Naardermeer Nature Reserve is celebrating its 110th anniversary this year, and it remains a great source of pride to many people in the Netherlands

 

From left to right :

Eurasian Reed Warbler (蘆葦鶯) ; Great Cormorant (普通鸕鶿)
The Netherlands (2015)
28th April, 2015. Naarden-Energiestraat

⭕️Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone (翻石鷸)

Vanuatu (2012)
8th October, 2013. Port Vila

Ruddy Turnstone is a small wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae. It is a highly migratory bird, breeding in northern parts of Eurasia and North America and flying south to winter on coastlines almost worldwide. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often known simply as turnstone.

It is a fairly small and stocky bird, 22–24 cm (8.7–9.4 in) long with a wingspan of 50–57 cm (20–22 in) and a weight of 85–150 g (3.0–5.3 oz). The dark, wedge-shaped bill is 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long and slightly upturned. The legs are fairly short at 3.5 cm (1.4 in) and are bright orange.

At all seasons, the plumage is dominated by a harlequin-like pattern of black and white. Breeding birds have reddish-brown upper parts with black markings. The head is mainly white with black streaks on the crown and a black pattern on the face. The breast is mainly black apart from a white patch on the sides. The rest of the underparts are white. In flight it reveals a white wingbar, white patch near the base of the wing and white lower back, rump and tail with dark bands on the uppertail-coverts and near the tip of the tail. The female is slightly duller than the male and has a browner head with more streaking.

⭕️Herons and Bitterns found in Malaysia

From left to right :

60sen : Black-crowned Night Heron (夜鷺) ; 70sen : Striated Heron (綠簑鷺)
80sen : Grey Heron (蒼鷺)
Malaysia (2015)
26th June, 2015. Seremban, Negeri Sembilan

Black-crowned Night Herons are small stocky, short-legged compared to other herons. They are handsomely attired in a tri-colour plumage of black, grey and white, with two long plumes on the nape. Night Herons are very aggressive and steal eggs and young of other heron colonies.

Black Crowned Night Herons eat a wide range of prey from aquatic invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles to land invertebrates including small mammals. Prey is shaken vigorously until stunned or killed and then juggled about in the beak and swallowed head first.

The Striated Heron also known as mangrove heron, little heron or green-backed heron, is a small heron. Striated herons are mostly non-migratory and noted for some interesting behavioral traits. Little herons are often encountered at Sungei Buloh Nature Park, hunched into a compact egg-shape on a branch over the water, motionless but intently looking out for prey. Little herons use a wide variety of hunting techniques, but usually hunt from cover and rarely forage on the open mudflats.

The grey heron is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is a large bird, standing up to 100 cm tall and measuring 84–102 cm long with a 155–195 cm wingspan. Grey Herons have long necks and powerful bills for a long and strong reach. They usually wait on the mud or at the water’s edge to snatch passing aquatic prey. They can stand motionless for hours.

 

Black-crowned Night Heron (夜鷺)

Malaysia (2015)

25th June, 2015. Kuala Selangor

⭕️Traditional hunting

From top to bottom :

Golden Eagle (金雕) ; Saker Falcon (獵鷹)
Peregrine Falcon (黑翅長腳鷸)

Kyrgyzstan (2015)

15th May, 2015. Bishkek

'Salburun'which means "Hunter's Zest" in Kyrgyz language, is a traditional hunting fest that has been held annually since 1997 in the area of Issyk Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia.

Hunting with golden eagles is a skill handed down from generation to generation in rural Kyrgyzstan. It dates back to the times when hunting was the only means of survival in the Kyrgyz steppe. The organisers of the "Salburun" Festival revived the tradition in the form of a competition four years ago in order to preserve local culture. Hunting has always been an integral part of the nomadic lifestyle of the Kyrgyz people.

There are only a few "berkutchi" - birds of prey hunters - left in Kyrgyzstan. The majority of them learned the secrets of taming the wild bird from their fathers and grandfathers. The hunter takes the bird and begins training when it is a nesting. When it grows up, the bird remains faithful to its owner and even recognises his voice.

Kyrgyz hunters say that in former times one hunter with a golden eagle could support a large family.

Golden Eagle (金雕)

Kyrgyzstan (2015)

15th May, 2015. Bishkek

Saker Falcon (獵鷹)

Kyrgyzstan (2015)

14th May, 2015. Bishkek

Peregrine Falcon (擬游隼)

Kyrgyzstan (2015)

15th May, 2015. Bishkek

⭕️Macao wetlands

Black-faced Spoonbill (黑面琵鷺)

Macao (2015)
5th May, 2015. Seac Pai Van

Wetlands, known as the “Kidneys of the Earth”, together with forests and oceans, comprise the three paramount ecosystems of the Earth. This May, to demonstrate China’s achievement in wetland conservation and its pioneering experience in the development of wetland protection, China Central Television (CCTV) kicked off a major charity programme – “Beautiful China – Tour of Wetlands” and launched an internet poll in late September. A combination of the online votes and the organising committee’s evaluation selected Macao’s wetland as one of China’s Top Ten Charming Wetlands.

Amid rapid economic development and continuing population growth, China’s wetlands face many problems such as declining biodiversity and decreased nationwide wetland area, etc. This programme aims to discover and exchange experiences on wetland conservation, and also hopes to awaken people’s awareness of conservation of the natural environment and the need to safeguard the healthy growth of wetlands. The programme started in May and included an opening ceremony, a documentary show, an internet poll and an award ceremony, etc. Across the entire network it is recorded more than 230 million people voted online, with the Macao wetland receiving more than one million votes. In combination with the evaluation by the organising committee, leaders from the State Forestry Administration, experts and scholars based on the rarity of prominent species and benefits from conservation, Macao was successfully included in the list of China’s Top Ten Charming Wetlands.

Black-faced Spoonbill (黑面琵鷺)

Macao (2015)

5th May, 2015. Seac Pai Van

Black-faced Spoonbill (黑面琵鷺)

Macao (2015)

5th May, 2015. Macao