Hello, birds on stamps seem to be a fine way to make money. But that is not what intrigues me. It's the fact that, sometimes, the birds that are depicted are not the ones they should be. I only know of two such cases, but I wonder whether there are people who know others.
Here are the ones I know:
Canada has issued a stamp, either this year or last which is clearly showing a Gyrfalcon. However, the caption says Peregrine. A Peregrine would have a distinct mustache, here there is none. To just mention the most obvious.
The second case dates much further back:
Lichtenstein (that tiny country next to smallish Switzerland with which it shares the currency) has issued a series of airmail stamps in 1939. The 1 Fr value clearly shows a Bearded Vulture in the foreground, with its typical flight silhouette of slender slightly drooping wings and a long wedge-shaped tail. Yet the caption in the catalogues always says "Eagles". The bird in the background may actually be one, but it's not clear to me. There is a second stamp (2 Fr value) where the catalogues actually do say Bearded Vulture, but those bird pictures are not very typical as far as I am concerned.
Here are the ones I know:
Canada has issued a stamp, either this year or last which is clearly showing a Gyrfalcon. However, the caption says Peregrine. A Peregrine would have a distinct mustache, here there is none. To just mention the most obvious.
The second case dates much further back:
Lichtenstein (that tiny country next to smallish Switzerland with which it shares the currency) has issued a series of airmail stamps in 1939. The 1 Fr value clearly shows a Bearded Vulture in the foreground, with its typical flight silhouette of slender slightly drooping wings and a long wedge-shaped tail. Yet the caption in the catalogues always says "Eagles". The bird in the background may actually be one, but it's not clear to me. There is a second stamp (2 Fr value) where the catalogues actually do say Bearded Vulture, but those bird pictures are not very typical as far as I am concerned.