Review of the Birds on the Uruguay Lighthouses set issued in 1997
Main reference used: Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica - a Collins Illustrated Checklist (1998), by de la Peña and Rumboll.
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Detail from stamp |
Detail from Checklist |
This black/blue and white hirundine looks superficially like the well-known House Martin with its white rump, but a closer look reveals a white line from above the bill to the eye. The White-rumped Swallow is a bird which occurs in Uruguay. Its description is as follows:- Above (except rump) black with blue sheen. Rump and underparts white. Variable white line from forehead to brow.
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Detail from stamp |
Detail from Checklist |
This dusky hirundine looks like a female Purple Martin but this species is not regular in Uruguay, and why would the designer choose a female? A close look at the hirundines in the Checklist reveals a very good match: Grey-breasted Martin which is described as bluish black above; throat and breast grey with whitish wash; rest of underparts whitish.
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Detail from stamp |
Detail from Checklist |
This looks like a Great Black-back but with a black band on its white tail. The Checklist gives an excellent illustration of this which could have been "lifted" and shown on the stamp. Description: Yellow bill with red tip and black subterminal band right across. Yellow legs. Head, neck, underparts, rump and tail white, the tail with a broad black subterminal band. Back and wing coverts black, primaries black, secondaries grey with white tip.
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Detail from stamp |
Detail from Checklist |
This looks like a White-rumped Sandpiper! Description: Non-breeding plumage: upper parts grey, slightly flecked brown. Rump and upper tail-coverts white. Eyebrow and belly white; breast pale grey flecked darker, flecking extending onto the flanks.
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Detail from stamp |
Detail from Checklist |
I’m not too confident about this one, but the bird on the stamp fits very well with the Checklist’s illustration of a non-breeding plumage Antarctic Tern in flight. Description: Bill and legs red. Top half of head black bordered below by a wide white band from the base of the bill to the neck. Back and wing-coverts blue-grey, rump and deeply forked tail white, outer vanes of tail feathers grey. Throat, breast and underparts grey, undertail-coverts white. Wings grey with the outer vanes of the outer primaries dark. Non-breeding plumage has a white fore-crown and forehead.
Norwich, UK
12th September, 1998
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