Fairy Pitta of Huben Postage Stamps
Yesterday, a set of postage stamps helping to raise awareness of the plight of the Fairy Pitta were issued. Postage stamps have been used in the past to help other species in Taiwan. Veteran conservationist John Wu used postage stamps in the early eighties to help stop the slaughter of Brown Shrike which were eaten as a local delicacy in Southern Taiwan and the killing of over sixty thousand raptors annually for "good luck mounts" that were exported to Japan.
More recently stamps depicting the Black-faced Spoonbill, Chinese Crested Tern, and Blue-tailed Bee-eater have raised awareness of these species. Let's hope the the Fairy Pitta stamps help to raise awareness for this species which apart from its decline due to loss of habitat has been trapped for its supposed medicinal properties and for sale as mounted specimens.
I've included a description of the stamps and attached a copy of the stamps.
"Description of Stamps
First day of issue: 2006-09-30 Sheet composition : 20 (4 x 5 or 5 x 4) Paper used: Phosphorescent stamp paper Printer: China Color Printing Co., Ltd. Stamp size: 29 ¡Ñ 37 ©Î 37 ¡Ñ 29 (mm) Color: Colorful Process: Deep etch offset Perforation: 13 Description. The Fairy Pitta (Pitta nympha), a member of the order passeriformes in the family pittidae, is known in Chinese as the "eight-colour bird" for its eye-catching plumage of eight different colors: black, white, yellow, red, blue, dark green, chestnut and bright blue. Taiwan currently provides the largest Fairy Pitta habitat and breeding range of any place in the world, yet the population of Fairy Pittas declines rapidly as a result of habitat loss. To let our citizens put more emphasis on ecological conservation, Chunghwa Post has asked Mr. (Scott)Lin Ruey-Shing of the Taiwan Endemic Species Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, to plan a set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet on the Conservation of Birds Postage Stamps - Fairy Pitta. The designs of the stamps follow: 1. Perching High (NT$5.00): Fairy Pittas are active on the ground of the forest. To attract mates, the males often perch on high branches and sing their hearts out. 2. Flying (NT$5.00): Although they are excellent flyer's, Fairy Pittas spend most of their time on the ground. When they make short-distance dashes in the woods, their bright blue wing coverts and upper tail coverts, as well as the snowy white spots in their wings, shimmer. It is a dazzling sight. 3. Rearing the Young (NT$10.00): Fairy Pittas like to build their nests on the grounds of steep slopes, in the forks of low shrubs or at the base of bamboo bushes in low-altitude broad-leaved forests where the tree crowns are dense. The males and females share the responsibility for hatching eggs and rearing the young. 4. Foraging (NT$10.00): Fairy Pittas are shy birds. Their sharp senses help them to find food. Earthworms are the primary food source for baby birds. Their diverse diet also includes caterpillars, beetles, ants, centipedes, snails and cicadas."