Australia Cover

 

Australia Cover

Brazil Cover 

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Australia Cover

Post Marke ; ?

1994 Australia Animals
Koala (Phascolorctos Cinereus)
Face Value ; 45c - 45c
Michel Catalog Number ; 1412 - 1413

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae.The Koala is found in coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia, from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula. Populations also extend for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia.

1994 Australia Animals
Kangaroo
Face Value ; 45c
Michel Catalog Number ; 1409

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot'). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.In general, larger kangaroos have adapted much better to changes wrought to the Australian landscape by humans and though many of their smaller cousins are endangered, they are plentiful. They are not farmed to any extent, but wild kangaroos are shot for meat, over which there is controversy.The kangaroo is an Australian icon: it is featured on the Australian coat of arms,on some of its currency,and is used by many Australian organisations, including Qantas.

Austria Cover

Australia Cover
Post Marke ; 02/02/1998 - Gosford 2250 N.S.W.

1997 Wetlands Birds
Comb-Crested Jacana (Irediparra Gallinacea)
Face Value ; 45c
Michel Catalog Number ; 1641

The Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea), also known as the Lotusbird or Lilytrotter, is the only species of jacana in the genus Irediparra. Like other jacana species, it is adapted to the floating vegetation of tropical freshwater wetlands.Jacana is Linneus' pseudo-Latin misspelling for the Brazilian Portuguese Jaçanã (from a Tupi name of the same bird) whose pronunciation is approximately.This species is unmistakable. It has a black crown and hindneck with a fleshy red wattle covering the forehead and forecrown, contrasting with a white face and throat. There is a broad black band on the lower breast with white belly. Underwing black. Back and upperwing mainly grey-brown with black primary coverts, rump and tail. Long legs with extremely long toes. Measurements: length (male) 20-21 cm, (female) 24-27 cm; wingspan 39-46 cm; weight (male) 85 g, (female) 140 g.
It occurs in southeastern Borneo, the southern Philippines, Sulawesi, Moluccas, Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, New Britania, and northern and eastern Australia. Its habitat is freshwater wetlands with abundant floating vegetation, such as water-lilies or water hyacinth, forming a mat on the water surface.It eats seeds and aquatic insects gleaned from floating vegetation or the water surface.This species gives a squeaky, high-pitched chittering.The Comb-crested Jacan is polyandrous. It builds a flimsy nest on floating or emergent vegetation, in which the female lays four lustrous, pale brown eggs covered by black markings. Only males incubate. The young hatch well-developed and soon leave the nest.

1997 Wetlands Birds
Brolga (Grus Rubicunda)
Face Value ; 45c
Michel Catalog Number ; 1643

The Brolga (Grus rubicunda), formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in tropical and eastern Australia, well known for its intricate mating dance.The full-grown Brolga is a tall, mid-grey to silver-grey crane, 0.7 to 1.3 m (3.3-4.3 feet) high, with a wingspan of 1.7 to 2.4 m (5.6 to 7.9 ft), and a broad red band extending from the straight, bone-coloured bill (15.4 lbs), females a little under 6 kg (13.2 lbs).Brolgas are widespread and often abundant in north and north-east Australia, especially north-east Queensland, and are common as far south as Victoria. They are also found in southern New Guinea and as rare vagrants in New Zealand. The population is estimated at between 20,000 and 100,000. The International Crane Foundation began a captive breeding population with three pairs of wild Brolga which were captured in 1972. Brolga are non-migratory but do move in response to seasonal rains.Brolga are omnivorous and eat a variety of wetland plants, insects, invertebrates, and small vertebrates such as frogs. They also eat wetland and upland plants, seeds, molluks, and crustaceans. Northern Austalian populations of Brolga are fond of the tubers sedge which they dig holes to extract but this is not available south of Brisbane.

Australia Postcard

Australia Postcard
Sydney,Australia

The mejestic Sydney Opera Hause