WWF Stamps - The Abuko Nature Reserve

Abuko is the Gambia's most visited tourist attraction receiving approximately 33,000 visitors per year.

 

In 1967 wildlife officer Eddie Brewer and his daughter Stella Marsden visited the area and realized the conservation importance of the forest and its wildlife. Brewer made a request to the government for the area to be protected. In 1968 the Department of Wildlife, now the Gambia Department of Parks and Wildlife Management was established at the reserve.

I – Series of Wildlife in Abuko Nature Reserve (WWF) -1976

Leopard, Statunga   , Serval Cat, Harnessed Antelope

III– Series of Butterflies in Abuko Nature Reserve (WWF) – 1980

Large Spotted Acraea , Yellow Pansy  ,Veined Swallowtail  , Foxy Charaxes

Nature reserves play an important role in achieving sustainable development and preserving the stability and balance of the environment .They also provide a suitable environment for conducting scientific research and protecting the biological diversity in addition to investing the marginal lands in addition to developing tourism industry.

II – Series of Birds in Abuko Nature Reserve (WWF) -1978

                      Verreaux's Eagle-Owl              Lizard Buzzard                     African Harrier-Hawk               Long-crested Eagle

French Colonies ...something new

I just started collecting some nice French Colony stamp and each stamp is amazing...

Airmail 1947 - Togo200F - post runner & plane.

Underwater hunt - Diver & Fish

Nouvelle Caledonie 1962.

Airmail - Gazelles and Plane 100F

Giant Pangolin - French West Africa. 

 Afrique Occidentale Française ( AOF ) - was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Dahomey (now Benin) and Niger. The capital of the federation was Dakar. The federation existed from 1895 until 1960.

A Plane @ sea...1947 Airmail.

Gabon - Planes at Airport 200F

Zebrafish - 1F Nouvelle-Caledonie et dependances 1959.

Trinidad & Tobago - Birds , High Values.

King Penguin - £1 South Georgia .

NICARAGUA - 1991 : Rain forest .

New beginnings.....flowers

Ivory Coast : Birds 1980 .

USA - 1940 - Baltimore Oriole .

Stamp of - John James Audubon .

The square on the left corner is the  Baltimore Oriole.

The adult male is orange on the underparts shoulder patch and rump, with some birds appearing a very deep flaming orange and others appearing yellowish-orange. All of the rest of the male's plumage is black. The adult female is yellow-brown on the upper parts with darker wings, and dull orange-yellow on the breast and belly.

South Africa MS - Water Birds and Raptors.

The Race ... a story

Take off....

The Challenge...

Coming Back ...to the finish line

Touch down...to the finish

Hungary - MS - Mandarin Duck,

Mandarin Duck - 1999

Uganda - MS - Laughing Dove

Laughing Dove

1982

Tanzania - MS - Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle  -

1996

Tonga - The Blue-crowned Lorikeet 1979-1980

Looking at self adhesive stamps on bird - you got to have a look at the Tonga stamps - one of the very first country to issue them and the unusual shape make them collectible .

They look beautiful mint / used .

The very first set was the Blue Crowned Lori with leaves in the background .

1979

Blue-crowned Lorikeet    Vini australis

• 5s,11s,14s,15s,17s,18s,22s,31s,39s,75s,1p .

Used copies:

1980

    

5s    no Leaves in background.     

This stamps was printed in 1980 and it did get postally used -and I managed copy. The Mint copy has a high catalogue value and a wonderful stamp to have in a bird collection.

Now talking about Lori's - i had a encounter with the Rainbow Lorikeet on my last visit to Longleat zoo UK.It was just amazing feeding these birds in a zoo enclosure and they were very friendly. 

Photos by : Anoop Wilson
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anoop-Wilson-Photography/190016954406230

Ascension - Bird Favorites 1934 and 1963

                                                                                 1934

Wideawake Tern or just wideawake. This refers to the incessant calls produced by a colony of these birds, as does the Hawaiian name ʻewa ʻewa which roughly means "cacophony".

This beautiful stamp - see closely shows a large colony of birds sitting closely , taking care of their eggs and nesting.

The 1963 set represents birds  that are close to the Oceans and the seas. Its true that no birds spends its  entire life at sea but many do. In the following stamp set the 6d - Sooty Tern spends a long time a before it returns to land to breed .

Some of them feed on land others believe to snatch away food in flight from others.

1963  

The £1 high value stamp of the Red Footed Booby is my favorite , but i think this complete set with all these one of a kind "Oceans and sea birds" makes it a lovely to have in a collection 

1d -  Brown Booby    Sula leucogaster     

1½d -  Black Noddy    Anous minutus    

2d - White Tern    Gygis alba    

3d - Red-billed Tropicbird    Phaethon aethereus    

4½d -  Brown Noddy    Anous stolidus    

6d -  Sooty Tern    Onychoprion fuscatus    

7d - Ascension Frigatebird    Fregata aquila    

10d -  Masked Booby    Sula dactylatra    

1s - White-tailed Tropicbird    Phaethon lepturus    

1s6d - Red-billed Tropicbird    Phaethon aethereus    

2s6d -  Band-rumped Storm Petrel    Oceanodroma castro    

5s - Red-footed Booby    Sula sula    

10s  - Ascension Frigatebird    Fregata aquila    

1£  - Red-footed Booby    Sula sula

Birds...Jan 2014