On the Wing

1988: Hong Kong Birds

Hong Kong has an amazing number of birds for a place that one always associates with high rise buildings.  A total of 460 species, a third of the number found in China as a whole. The four stamps show some wonderful wings and the cover pairs the stunning kingfishers together. Going L to R we have

• 50¢ White-breasted Kingfisher, a resident of Hong Kong which also breeds there.

• $5 Pied Kingfisher, a lover of fish ponds. Although once widespread it is now virtually confined to the Deep Bay area and Starling Inlet. Occasionally it is seen elsewhere around the coast during migration.  The one shown with its double band on the chest identifies it as a male.

There are three groups of Kingfisher in the world and Hong Kong has them all.  The Pied Kingfisher belongs to the family of water kingfishers Cerylidae. The White-breasted kingfisher is in the group of tree or wood kingfishers, Halycyonidae.The third species is of course the river kingfisher, Alcedinidae.

• $1.30 Fujian or Fukien Niltava, a winter visitor where it is mostly found in the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve

• $1.70 Black Kite. Hong Kong's commonest bird of prey. It is present throughout the year but migrants swell the number in autumn and winter when several hundred can often be seen circling overhead at dusk.

The attractive cover and stamps were designed by Karen Phillips who has been the illustrator of numerous bird guides of the far east and also randomly a book on 'Popular Chinese Vegetables'. Born in Sandakan, the largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia she was educated at Bedales School Hampshire and studied graphic design in London.  I believe she now lives in that other great birding area of the Algarve, Portugal.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps