Tristan Albatross

Tristan Albatross (特島信天翁)
Tristan da Cunha (2013)
12th August, 2013. Tristan da Cunha

Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena) is a large seabird from the albatross family, which was only widely recognised as a full species in 1998. Due to the difficulty in distinguishing them from Wandering Albatrosses, their distribution at sea is still not fully known, but the use of satellite tracking has shown that they forage widely in the South Atlantic, with males foraging west of the breeding islands towards South America and females to the east towards Africa. There have been sightings near Brazil and also off the coast of Australia.

The Tristan Albatrosses are endemic to the islands of the Tristan da Cunha group and more specifically Gough Island. The majority of the world's population nest on Gough Island, around 1500 pairs. On some years a pair breeds on Inaccessible Island.

Ducorps' Cockatoo

Ducorps' Cockatoo (杜氏鳳頭鸚鵡)
Solomon Islands (2013)
21st June, 2011. Honiara

The Ducorps' Cockatoo, also known as Solomons Corella or Broad-crested Corella, is a species of cockatoo endemic to the Solomon Islands. This small white cockatoo is larger than the Tanimbar Corella yet smaller than the Umbrella Cockatoo. The species is common across most of the Solomons, absent only from Makira in the south. It inhabits lowland rainforests, secondary forests, cleared areas and gardens. The Solomons Cockatoo nests in tree cavities. The eggs are white and there are usually two in a clutch. The eggs are incubated for about 25 days and the chicks leave the nest about 62 days after hatching.

The northern common cuscus, also known as the grey cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the Phalangeridae family native to northern New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands, but is now also found in the Bismarck Archipelago, south-east and central Moluccas, the Solomons and Timor, where it is believed to have been introduced in prehistoric times.

Two species are not endanger species but appear on the stamps.

Northern Common Cuscus (灰袋貂)
Solomon Islands (2002)

Black Crowned-crane

Black Crowned-crane (黑冠鶴)
The Gambia (2006)
7th July, 2013. Banjul

Black Crowned-crane is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. It occurs in dry savannah in Africa south of the Sahara, although in nests in somewhat wetter habitats. This species and the closely related Grey Crowned-crane (東非冕鶴), which prefers wetter habitats for foraging, are the only cranes that can nest in trees. Like all cranes, Black Crowned-crane eats insects, reptiles, and small mammals. It is endangered, especially in the west, by habitat loss and degradation.

Black Crowned-crane (黑冠鶴)
The Gambia (2006)
27th February, 2006. Banjul

Papyrus Gonolek

Papyrus Gonolek (穆富氏黑伯勞)
Burundi (2011)
11th June, 2013. Bujumbura

Papyrus Gonolek is a species of bird in the Malaconotidae family. It is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It has specialised habitat requirements, being restricted to papyrus swamps. Not yet a threatened species, it has become rare due to habitat loss and pollution.

The cover is the last of WWF 50th anniversary series, total are 11 covers collected.

Secretarybird

Secretarybird (蛇鷲)
Uganda (2012)
30th April, 2013. Kampala
3rd May, 2013. Sorting Centre, Kampala

The last cover features Secretarybird was come from Eritrea, however it doesn't look good as the cover features 3 species. Here is the new one, it is more beautiful and attractive, the latest WWF issue of Uganda. As before, 4 stamps illustrated different activity of Secretarybird. Although the stamps coordinated by Stamperija, it still collectable to all bird theme stamp collector.

Please specially take a look of the airmail label, it features the logo of Uganda Airlines, but it closed for 20 years. The logo of the airline is Grey Crowned-Crane (灰冠鶴), which is a national bird of Uganda.

Iran's owls

From left to bottom :
1100Rls. : Spotted Owlet (斑腹小鴞) ; 600Rls. : Northern Long-eared Owl (長耳鴞)
1600Rls. : Pallid Scops-Owl (縱紋角鴞) ; 2200Rls. : Brown Fish-Owl (褐漁鴞)
Iran (2011)
14th December, 2011. Tehran (Philatelic Bureau)

This stamp set also celebrated 50th anniversary of WWF but it stored in my album for a long time, few months ago I decided to obtain cancellation and finally get a nice FDI postmark. Four species are selected as endemic species to middle-asia area.

The big problem is, who knows what the red-postmark read?

Loons and grebes

From left to right :
Red-throated Loon (紅喉潛鳥) ; Horned Grebe (角鸊鷈)
Great Crested Grebe (鳳頭鸊鷉) ; Black-throated Loon (黑喉潛鳥)
Åland (2013)
5th April, 2013. Mariehamn

After many years, Åland issued new WWF stamps again, this time feature 4 loons and grebes commonly to be found in this small islands. I decided order a FDC from the philatelic bureau, but sadly the shame Hongkong Post once again damaged this beautiful (and quite expensive) FDC.

WWF stamps again of South Georgia

From left to right :
70p : Antarctic Tern (南極燕鷗) ; 60p : South Georgia Shag (南喬治亞鸕鶿)
95p : Brown Skua (褐賊鷗) ; £1,10 : Kelp Gull (黑背鷗)
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (2012)
20th August, 2012. King Edward Point

In each few years, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands issues their WWF stamps, the above cover features the latest WWF stamp set issued on 2012, this is the first time features 4 species instead as before - 1 species for 4 stamps.

For species are common in sub-Antarctic ocean and islands - Antarctic Tern looks similar with Arctic Tern (北極燕鷗), however the wings of Antarctic Tern are in grey colour and only actives in Antarctic Ocean. South Georgia Shag is endemic to South Georgia and some sub-Antarctic Islands of South Atlantic Ocean. Brown Skua is a large seabird that breeds in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic zones and moves further north when not breeding. Kelp Gull to be found in wide area of sub-Antarctic, southern Africa, South-America and Australia, include those offshore islands.

Below is the receipt of the registered mail, it shown that the post office still using traditional registration label in 2012.