PFF: Happy Thanksgiving!

Sent: 17 July 2012, Traveled 13,633 km 

Back in 2012, I sent a get well soon postcard to a stranger who needed a liver transplant. I received a thank you card in return! With that short story, I wish to greet those who celebrate a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm linking up with my friend Beth for the Postcard Friendship Friday linky, a collection of beautiful postcard shared on the last day of the week.

~maria

Stamps: Birds

I'm very happy when I saw these new stamps last week. I thought to myself, "Perfect for the upcoming Sunday Stamps theme!" 

There were four designs issued on 21 September 2016. I only have these two, though. The theme was local birds of prey in Singapore. The other two designs can be seen here.

~maria

Birds on stamps

The theme for this week for Sunday Stamps is birds.

It was tough deciding which birds to post. So I think to make this easier, I created two posts. One was dedicated for birds from the desserts that I got from my boss last month. There were 6 of them so I thought they deserve an entry of their own.

Twenty days ago, I posted Oriental Birds. This time, I'm featuring stamps with birds that are not from my part of the globe.

This is from the series Birds of the Garden from Belarus, released 16 June 2006. The bird is called hawfinch. It's from the same genus Fringilla as the chaffinch from my Friday post. I'm happy to have two finches perched on my blog this week.

From Switzerland, issued on 6 September 2007, Domestic Birds series. This bird with open wings is Tichodroma muraria or wallcreeper. I just love its crimson wings.

These two birds from Belgium were issued 21 January 2008 and 11 November 2011, respectively. The one on the left is the Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes).  I must say I have a strong liking with the one on the right, the Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), its erect ear-tufts make it interesting. If I'm a witch, like in Harry Potter, I'll pick this for my owl.

RU-717104, Sender: Olga
Sent: 28 Dec 2011 from Moscow, Russia
Received: 24 Jan 2012, Traveled 8,260 km in 27 days

Technically, this is a postcard but I am happy to share it for the theme, obviously for the reason that it's a collage of birds on stamps -- and really lovely ones! I really find it nice that for most stamps on the foreground, the birds are featured perched on a fruit-bearing plant or on a flower. On a closer look, these stamps are from 20 August 1981. The birds starting from 1 o'clock:

Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) - chat with black plumage and dark-orange breast

Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankovskii) - very rare "Little Brown Job" bird

Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) - passerine bird with elongated tail feathers

Parrotbill (Sinosuthora webbiana) - 

Siberian tit (Poecile cinctus) - also called grey-headed chickadee, another passerine bird 

I really had a great time researching about all these birds. I have a penchant for the freedom of flying but afraid of heights myself. At least I get to appreciate this freedom with these birds on stamps.

~maria

Saudi Arabia Bird Stamps 1993

These birds came from a full sheet of 9, issued by the Saudi Post in 1993. The birds starting from upper left, then going down, then from upper right and going down again are as follows:

Arabian Bustard (Ardeotis arabs)
Western Reef Heron (Egretta gularis)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Arabian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos dorae)
European Turtledove (Streptopelia turtur)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)

My favorite from this set is the hoopoe. I think it has a really cool name and it has a really cool crown of feathers, too!

Sharing these birds for Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Bird Watch

         Here are some birds postcards to complement the stamps to be posted on Sunday:

LT-174535, Sender: Lindenfir
Sent: 27 Dec 2011 from Vilnius, Lithuania
Received 24 Jan 2012, Traveled 9,052 km in 28 days

I wish I can read the scientific name of this bird at the back of the card, but it's in Cyrillic

characters. It looks so regal with its flamboyant crown.

NO-56120, Sender: Julcos
Sent: 6 Dec 2011, Sent from Lillehammer, Norway
Received: 16 Dec 2011, Traveled 9,652 km in 10 days

I believe the name of this bird is chaffinch. Julia, the sender said that

this bird is very popular and there's many of them in Norway.

Card from my own stack.

This is the Philippine cuckoo-dove. I got it from a booklet of migratory birds
published by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.  According to the site,

the Philippines is home to 600 species of resident and migratory birds.

~maria

Polish se-tenant stamps

Se-tenant : stamps with different designs that are attached to one another.

The word is French, meaning 'holding together'.

Se-tenant is this week's theme at Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

This first example is from a quadripartition on a continuous strip called Fauna and Flora of Fresh Water -- Beaver, castor, water frog, rana, birch tree, reed and other marsh plants; Kingfisher, mud crawfish, yellow swimmer, freshwater snail, water thyme, water lily and pond weed. I only have these 2 stamps out of 4. The strip was issued by the Poczta Polska, 30 March 2004.

This second example, also issued by Poczta Polska. It was issued in 29 October 2003 for the 50th Anniversary of Slask Song & Dance Ensemble. The ensemble was organized in 1 July 1953 and had it first performance in October 1954. To date, they have performed over 6,000 folk shows worldwide. On these 2 stamps, the ensemble is presented here wearing Silesia regional costume. 

The second example is a preparation for next week's theme for Sunday Stamps, traditional costumes. Looking forward for your next visit to my page! :)

~maria

Oriental Birds

Arriving back in Manila today, I'm greeted with two postcards on top of my study table. At the back of one card are really bright and beautiful stamps:

Issued by SingPost, the green stamp is from the "Pond Life" definitive collection, issued in 13 April 2011. It features the most common and beautiful specie of damselfly -- Ceriagrion cerinorubellum, commonly known as ornate coraltail. Another stamp from this set, can be found here.

The red stamp is from the "Flora and Fauna" set issued 6 June 2007. For the Aethopyga siparaja, the males have the bright crimson belly and greenish black tail. The females are olive green with hints of pale yellow. To read more about other commemorative stamps from this series, click here.

Drawing inspiration from these two stamps, I found similar ones to share for Sunday Stamps. It's perfect 'cause the theme this week is 'anything you wish'.

Issued in 2005 by Pos Malaysia, the stamp shows tekukur or the spotted dove, Streptopilia chinensis. The Malay name was derived from its soft te-croo-croo call. More information about this bird can be found here.

These 4 stamps are from a PhilPost special issue on 7 March 2008. I have the entire souvenir sheet and very happy to have it. It was for the Philippine participation at the 2008 Taipei 21st Asian International Stamp Exhibition. The first stamp (upper left) is the Philippine Eagle or Pithecophaga jefferyi -- our national bird. To read about these stamps and other stamps from the issue, click here.

These 2 stamps are from the bird definitive stamps issued by the HongKong Post on 31 December 2006. I have here the Greater Painted-Snipe or Rostratula benghalensis and the Red-whiskered Bulbul or Pycnonotus jocosus. The souvenir sheet features 12 birds (including these 2), and there were 4 high-value stamps, that can be found here. The complete set can be found here.

I'm happy to come up with many related stamps to the Singaporean stamps. Also, it's nice to know that despite most places are highly urbanized, there are still tangible efforts to raise awareness for the protection of our ecosystem, like printing beautiful birds on stamps. I think my challenge is to check out whether I have bird stamps from the west in my collection...Well, we'll see to that, until the next 'anything you wish' theme for Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Philippine Wild Ducks

This is a souvenir sheet issued in 3 August 2007 for the 20th Asian International Stamp Exhibition. It was held at the Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand from 3-12 August 2007.

The ducks featured on this sheet are the following:

Northern Pintail (Anas Acuta). Uncommon in wetlands from marshes to lakes. Males are unmistakable with long thin neck, brown head with white stripe up neck. Female ducks are surface-feeding and has greenish-brown speculum with white trailing edge, long slender neck and longer more pointed tail. 

Common Shellduck (Tadorna tadorna). Numerous species of shell duck are widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the world. It is a large surface-feeding duck, sometimes known as a Sheldrake. Common shellducks are found in estuaries and fishponds
 

Northern Shoveler (Anas c/ypeata). All shovelers have a large, shovel-like bill. Uncommon in freshwater marshes and shallow lakes, in pairs or small groups often with other ducks. It has a distinctive large bill which gives a top heavy look and is best field mark for female. Females are also noted with brown belly and give a typical Mallard-like quack look. Males have white breast and chestnut flanks and belly. Males are silent when not breeding. 
 

Greater Scaup (Aythya Marl/a). Usually found in brackish and saltwater bays and estuaries but also in freshwater lakes. It has rounded head and large and broad bill. White in wing extends well into primaries. Male has black front and rear, separated by grey back and white sides is indicative or diagnostic. Females are well-defined white face that differs from female tufted ducks. 

I'm sharing this for Viridian's Sunday Stamps theme today, mini-sheets.

~maria

Source: http://www.philippinestamps.net/RP2007-Ducks.htm

Orange red -- almost summer!

It's almost summer here in the Philippines. The sky is perfect blue and the days are starting to seem more gay. I always love this atmosphere when everything seems to be radiant. There are birds chirping in the laundry area of our apartment, probably delighted by the morsels of rice that were washed down from the sink.

This makes me miss life in the province even more, especially around dusk -- when the world is orange red. The surroundings of our home would look serene...the flowers would seem to be retreating for the night, the bees would still be around -- teasing the flower buds, while the birds are cooing from a distance.

Here's a postcard that I received from September last year which brings me back home to the province. The card is from China, though.

The card looks kinda similar with the stamp that came with it. I am sharing this post with Viridian for the Sunday Stamps. Visit her page for more cool stamps. Happy Sunday everyone!