“ I guess, if you are going to be a complete anorak,
you should combine two really sad hobbies such as birding and stamp
collecting. The Fatbirder admits to still having a stamp collection
accumulated in his youth”. [Fatbirder website]
(Hobbies?
For myself, many years ago when there were suddenly too many bird stamps I gave
up stamp collecting and started collecting bird field guides. Then there were
too many field guides, so I started taking bird photographs. Now there are so
many photographs and photographers I am thinking of taking up golf again -
not that I was ever any good at it.)
Enough
digression. A sign of what might happen was when Denis Wilson was straight in
with a score that was ‘excellent’ on my scale. Then Alison
Mackerras produced a perfect score, having the grace to hint that a website or
two had been of assistance. She drew my attention to www.bird-stamps.org. If you are remotely
interested in the world’s birds or bird art do yourself a favour (as
Molly Meldrum used to say) and take a look at that site. There are other stamp
sites on which you can bring up pageants of bird illustrations, created from all
kinds of perspectives from the stylised to the photographic.
Some immaterial variation in the species names used suggests
that more than one authority might have been consulted.
What an extraordinary world out there. I’d had no
idea just how seriously collectors take this activity. Even with those tools,
quite a bit of research was needed to nail I: 1-8, let alone II: 1-10 and III:
1-7. I am deeply impressed, in fact boggled, by what might be a perfect overall
score by Damien Farine. (I shall scrutinise his other entries carefully with
the eye of the most savage of markers.)
Anyway, just on this first instalment Alison, Damien, Yarden,
Noel and Leo got perfect scores.
Below I have given the issuing country, the name on the
stamp where given, and in square brackets the species name from the IOC list of
recommended English names.
1.
Papua New Guinea “Tarangau Harpyopsis
Novaeguineae” [Papuan Eagle]
2.
Malaysia “BURONG SIUL” [Crested
Partridge]
3.
Christmas Island “Three French hens” [Domesticated
form of junglefowl, possibly ‘Plymouth Rock’ variety (yes, Noel),
being part of 1977 Christmas stamp series based on the ‘Twelve Days of
Christmas’, not occurring as such on Christmas Island]
4.
Australia “Cape Barren Goose” [ditto]
5.
Nauru Unnamed [Wandering Tattler - a common
migratory wader of western Pacific islands, often seen as here on inshore flats
of drying coral rubble]
6.
Canada “Great Horned Owl / Grand duc
d’Amérique” [Great Horned Owl]
7.
Palau (island country of Micronesia) “WHIMBREL
Numenius phaeopus” [Whimbrel]
8.
Australia Unnamed [Black Swan. Commemorating 100
years since first Western Australian stamp.]
Remaining answers in due course.
