Frigate Birds on Barbuda Island

Postcard

Barbuda is a small flat coral island in the Eastern Caribbean. The island forms part of the state of Antigua and Barbuda and has a population of about 1,600. Barbuda is located approximately 30 miles north of the island of Antigua.

 

Barbuda's Frigate Bird Sanctuary is located in the island's northwestern lagoon. The sanctuary is home to over 5,000 frigate birds. The male frigate is marked by its red throat pouch, which it can inflates as part of its courtship behavior and as a defensive display. 

Stamp

The Painted Bunting, part of a large set of 15 bird stamps, issued 1996. 

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St John's, capital of Antigua and Barbuda

Postcard

St. John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. Antigua is the main island.

St. John's Cathedral is an Anglican church. This is actually the second cathedral built on this location. The first was built of wood as early as 1681 but fell in disrepair and became too small. The second was constructed with English brick about 1720.

Stamps

A Tamarind tree and a Copperband Butterflyfish.

Thx Pat!

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A Postcard from the West Indies: Antigua and Barbuda

Postcard

Antigua and Barbuda  (Spanish for "ancient" and "bearded") is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands. Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles.

The English settled on Antigua in 1632; Sir Christopher Codrington settled on Barbuda in 1684. Most Antiguans are of African lineage, descendants of slaves brought to the island centuries ago to labor in the sugarcane fields. The British ruled from 1632 to 1981, with a brief French interlude in 1666. The islands became an independent state within the Commonwealth Realm system in 1981.

English Harbour, Antigua's graceful and evocative historic district, is focused on the fifteen square miles of Nelson's Dockyard National Park. Developed as a base for the British Navy in the great age of sail, the harbour served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands during the turbulent years of the late 18th century.

Stamp

From a set of thirteen stamps about plants, flowers and trees: the Mesquite tree.

update: designated in 2016 as a Unesco World Heritage Site 

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