All posts by Gilly Christmas

Previous Editor of Flight. BSS website developer. Live in Hampshire, England. Been a BSS member since 1999. Collecting Interests: Worldwide birds excluding cartoons and stylised birds. Mint only; Selected issues from Stamperija countries. I am excluding doves and poultry from 2020 to try to reduce purchases! I have 3 subsets of stamp albums: a) Paintings with birds; b) Doves, and c) Roosters. Favourite bird stamp countries: All South American countries; Antigua & Barbuda; All Channel Islands; French Antarctic Territory; Falkland Islands; Gambia; Korea (N & S); Malaysia; Namibia; Singapore; South Africa; Sweden and Ukraine. I particularly like Souvenir Sheets, Mini Sheets, and Overprinted stamps. Would be interested in communicating with members with similar collecting interests, and/or meeting with members living within/near Hampshire.
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Bird Symbols of Canada

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Part Three – Nova Scotia

Provincial Bird: Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

The Nova Scotia House of Assembly adopted the Western Osprey in local Statute, via the “Provincial Bird Act 1994”, which is described as “An Act to Declare the Osprey to be the Bird Emblem of Nova Scotia”. The Act simply has one clause, to declare the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) as the bird emblem of the Province.  

The Canadian Government website which describes the Provincial Emblems, has this to say about the Osprey:

“This bird of prey is larger than a hawk and smaller than an eagle. Its main source of food is fish, and it can often be seen flying over oceans, rivers and lakes. Ospreys migrate south in the winter. Older birds return north to mate, while younger birds stay south until they mature.”

The Osprey is also plentiful on bird stamps.  Unfortunately, there are not many Canadian issues that feature the Nova Scotia bird emblem, but here are the two where the Osprey is the main object:

2000 Birds of Canada

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Bird Symbols of Canada

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Part 1 – Ontario

Provincial Bird: The Common Loon (Gavia immer)

Ontario adopted the Common Loon as its official bird on 23 June 1994.  This choice is rather appropriate, given that lakes and rivers make up one fifth of the geographical area of the province. About this bird, the Canada Government website states:

“Found in lakes and rivers across the province, the loon’s eerie call is associated with the beauty and solitude of Ontario’s wilderness. The loon can dive to depths of 70 metres in search of food, and stay under water for three minutes.”

The Common Loon has appeared on several bird stamps issued by Canada Post. The first of these, issued in 1998, was from a set of two (the second featured a polar Bear) and the design artwork was done by Alain Leduc et Steven Slipp, with engraving done by Martin Mörck.

Fast forward then to 2012, when the Common loon appeared on a definitive stamp based on the theme of “Baby Animals”. The stamp below is a self-adhesive and was also printed in a booklet of six stamps.

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Stamps

Hildasay Island – Cinderella Stamps

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Where is Hildasay Island?

Hildasay is a small, uninhabited island located in the Shetland Islands, off the West Coast of the Shetland mainland. 

There are some attractive bird stamps relating to Hildasay Island. First up is this sheetlet of four stamps featuring a Redshank (Tringa tetanus), Turnstone (Arenaria interpres), Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and Curlew (Numenius arquata).   All four of these birds can be found in the Shetland Islands.

These Cinderella stamps are based on attractive watercolour illustrations of all four birds.  Graham Soult (of dealer Graham Land Stamps) states on his website that the origin of these issues is not clear, though he thinks that they may date form the 1990s.

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St Vincent and The Grenadines

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The Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

St Vincent and The Grenadines is another country with an extensive range of bird stamps.   For this March 2020 issue, I was struck by the powerful design of this miniature sheet and set of four stamps from the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation for the St Vincent and The Grenadines Postal Corporation.  I particularly like the background image, with the imposing photograph of the Black Vulture.  I also think that it is helpful too to have a commentary about the Black Vulture incorporated into the margin.

I then went to the website of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds where I found the freely available “Complete Checklist of the birds of the West Indies” in which the Black Vulture is mentioned as a “Rare Breeding Resident”, so I guess that it is conceivable that the Black Vulture might be spotted (from time to time) in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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