A prehistoric looking bird from Rwanda

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This magnificient bird is the shoebill, a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill. It lives in tropical east Africa in large swamps from Sudan to Zambia.

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Lake System in the Great Rift Valley | Kenya

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The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley comprises three inter-linked relatively shallow lakes and covers a total area of 32,034 hectares. Besides having one of the highest bird diversities in the world, it is the single most important foraging site for the lesser flamingo anywhere.

The Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Doñana National Park | Spain

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Doñana National Park has a biodiversity that is unique in Europe. The park is one of Europe's most important wetland reserves and a major site for migrating birds.

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By the looks of it, one of the stamps is missing.

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The Australian Pelican

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The Australian Pelican is found throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea and western Indonesia. There are seven species of pelicans in the world, all of which are similar in shape and, with one exception, are primarily white in colour. 

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Cookie the Little Penguin | Australia

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The video I stumbled upon, inspired me to post this card here. It shows a cute Little Penguin by the name Cookie. Little penguins are the smallest species of penguin in the world, with an average height of just 33 centimetres. They are found only on the southern coastlines of Australia and New Zealand. 

Australian little penguin colonies primarily exist on offshore islands, like Granite Island, where they are protected from feral terrestrial predators and human disturbance. The population of Little Penguins is decreasing as numerous colonies have recently declined or disappeared. 

(thx for sending Steve!)

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The dogs that saved Macquarie Island | Australia

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Macquarie Island is located halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. The island is a long, thin strip, 34km long and about 5km wide. One of the few points of land in that part of the planet where native birds and other wildlife can breed.

Since humans visited the island in the early 1800’s, the island got infested by all kind of rabbits and rodents. Introducing cats to the island wasn’t a good idea when the growing cat population became a problem itself. In the early 1980s myxomatosis was introduced and it helped for a while.

In 2007 a new approach was launched. It involved killing most of the rabbits with baits dropped from helicopters, then bringing in detection dogs to eliminate any survivors. On 8 April 2014 Macquarie Island was officially declared pest-free after seven years of conservation efforts.

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The vital role played by dogs in eradicating rabbits and rodents from Macquarie Island has been commemorated in a special stamp series.

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Kazakh eagle hunting

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The ancient art of eagle hunting is a traditional form of falconry practiced by Kazakh and Kyrgyz people in contemporary Kazakhstan. 

Eagle hunting was mainly practiced in the northern regions of Kazakhstan, while in the south hunters preferred to use hawks and falcons. Each bird was intended to hunt a particular type of animal.

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Lilac-breasted Roller | Zambia

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The lilac-breasted roller is a member of the roller birds family. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula, preferring open woodland and savanna.

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Australian Bush Birds

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Australia has more than 800 bird species. Five of them on this postcard: Red Browed Finch, Superb Blue Wren, Kookaburra, Parrot and Budgerigar.

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Four more birds: birds that visit Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Stamps produced for Cocos (Keeling) Islands can be used for posting in Australia and all Australian Territories.

Thx Steve!

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Frigate Birds on Barbuda Island

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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. 

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

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Australia week: a Fairy Penguin

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The Little or Blue Penguin, also known as Fairy Penguin, is the smallest of all penguins in the world. It is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand.

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Part of a set of two stamps to commemorate 100 years of domestic air mail in Australia. This year will mark 100 years since French aviator Maurice Guillaux (1883-1917) made the first air mail flight in Australia. 

Thx Steve!

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Inagua Islands, Bahamas

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The Bahamas is an island country consisting of more than 700(!) islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Cuba.

Great Inagua is the third largest island in The Bahamas. The population of this island is about 1,000.There is a large bird sanctuary in the centre of the island with a population of more than 80,000 Flamingoes and many other bird species.

 

The neighbouring Little Inagua is uninhabited and occupied by a large Land and Sea Park.

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In 2014 The Bahamas issued a set of four stamps to celebrate 10th anniversary of Bahamas National Geographic Information Systems Centre. This 50 cent stamp is about “Hurricane Distribution 1960-2012”. 

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The Rockhoppers of Tristan da Cunha

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Tristan da Cunha is an active volcanic island with rare wildlife and home to 266 British Citizens
living in the world's most isolated settlement of ‘Edinburgh of the Seven Seas’. The island was first discovered in 1506 by the the Portuguese sailor Tristão da Cunha.

The island is part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha—a territory of the United Kingdom. The nearest speck of land, St. Helena, is a whopping 2,430 km away, and it's over 2,816 km to the nearest continent, Africa. Making Tristan da Cunha the most remote inhabited island in the world.  

More than 99% of northern rockhopper penguins breed on Tristan da Cunha and neighboring Gough Island.

Stamps

Two William and Kate wedding stamps and a WWF stamp in the middle. 

Thx Ruben!

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Emperor Penguins from Antartica (T.A.A.F.)

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The Emperor Penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The Emperor Penguin breeds in the coldest environment of any bird species; air temperatures may reach −40 °C. The penguins are well designed to withstand these harsh conditions. They have the highest feather density of any bird, about a hundred feathers per square inch.

The Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (T.A.A.F.) is an overseas territory of France.  

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Lyallia Cushion (Lyallia kerguelensis) is a perennial herb that is endemic to the subantarctic Kerguelen Islands, part of T.A.A.F. 

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A postcard from São Tomé and Principe

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São Tomé and Príncipe is an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, in western Africa. With a population of 185,000 São Tomé and Principe is Africa’s smallest country after Seychelles.

It consists of two archipelagos around the two main islands: São Tomé and Príncipe.

A century ago São Tomé and Príncipe was the leading cocoa beans producer of the world. Today it’s economy is still highly dependent on cocoa export. Half of it is exported to The Netherlands, the largest cacao importer in the world.

Principe Flycatcher-babbler is a species of bird endemic to São Tomé and Príncipe.

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Birds in Ngorongoro National Park, Tanzania

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The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is an immense expanse of protected highlands, grass and bush lands. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Over 500 bird species have been counted in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Going clockwise:  1 Crow 2 Blacksmith Plover 3 ? 4 Secretary bird (it feeds mainly on snakes, stamping them to death in a comical flailing dance) 5 Heron 6 Saddle-billed Stork.

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(left) 350th death anniversary of Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640)

(right) Wild Animals of Tanzania (2010 issue): Elephants.

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A postcard from Bhutan, Land of the Thunder Dragon

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Bhutan is a small country covering a little over 18,000 sq miles (47,000 sq km), its land is very varied. Snow peaks in the Himalayas, swamps and highlands are just some of the land conditions that are found in a short range from each other. Bhutan is an incredibly beautiful nation surrounded by mountain ranges, waterfalls, rivers, forests and green vegetation is an ideal tourist spot.

This legendary land was first settled in the 9th century by wandering migrants from the Tibet region of China. This small, landlocked country, lying in the Eastern Himalayas , literally surrounded by mountains, is most difficult to navigate as there are few roads and no air connectivity or trains. Long influenced by the culture of India it gained its independence from India in 1949. Bhutan is thinly populated with only 600,000 inhabitants.

On the postcard we see a Golden Langur, White bellied Heron with chick and a Black Necked Crane.

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“Visitors to the 42nd annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will have the opportunity to purchase specialty items rarely seen for sale outside the remote Himalayan country of Bhutan.”

A stamp to commemorate this festival.

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Orellana, El ultimo paraiso, Ecuador

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Francisco de Orellana is the capital of the youngest province of Ecuador, Orellana. Also known as El Coca, which is located very close to the dense rainforests in the Amazon, near the confluence of the Coca and Napo River. Its name comes from the Spanish expeditionary Francisco de Orellana who are in these territories in search of El Dorado, but during his journey he discovered the Amazon River. 

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(left) The Mitad del Mundo (Spanish: Middle of the World) is a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. The 30-meter-tall monument, built between 1979 and 1982, was constructed to mark the point where the equator passes through the country.

 

(right) Independence Day in Ecuador is celebrated on August 10, to commemorate the day when the group of local patriots started a revolt against the president Ruiz de Castilla and established Juan Pio Montufar as the president.

That day in 1809 is now referred to as the ‘Primer grito de independencia’ which marks the beginning of Ecuadorian struggle for independence. The Spanish were finally defeated in 1822 and Ecuador became part of the Gran Colombia, an alliance formed by Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

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