Past Bird of the Year Issues
BirdLife International is a global family of 123 national partners covering all continents, landscapes and seascapes and the official scientific source of information on birds for the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. BirdLife International’s mission is to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people toward sustainability in the use of natural resources. The stamps seen here were issued in collaboration with BirdLife International and various postal authorities.

Solomon Islands produced the magnificent stamp sheets above and below in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The top six stamps depict: the West Solomons Owl (Athene jacquinoti), a Solomons Nightjar (Eurostopodus nigripennis), the Guadalcanal Owl (Athene granti), a Marbled Frogmouth (Podargus ocellatus) and the Hawk Owl (Ninox jacquinoti). The middle sheet features the Beach Kingfisher (Todiramphus saurophaga), the Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris), the Ultramarine Kingfisher (Todiramphus leucopygius), the Moustached Kingfisher (Actenoides bougainvillei), the Little Kingfisher (Alcedo pusilla) and the Variable Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx lepidus). Bottom six show: the Rufous-tailed Waterhen (Amaurornis moluccana), the Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus phillapensis), Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), Woodford’s Rail (Nesoclopeus woodfordi), the Roviana Rail (Gallirallus rovianae) and the Makira Woodhen (Gallinula silvestris).

Top sheet shows: Finsch’s Pygmy Parrot (Micropsitta finschii), a Cardinal Lory (Pseudeos cardinalis), the Solomons Corella (Cacatua ducorpsii), a Moluccan Eclectus (Eclectus roratus), a Coconut Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) and a Song Parrot (Geoffroyus heteroclitus). in the middle is: a Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon (Ducula rubricera), the Yellow-bibbed Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus solomonensis), the Claret-breasted Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus viridis), a Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), Stephan’s Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps stephani) and the Crested Cuckoo-Dove (Reinwardtoena crassirostris). The bottom sheet has: the Pied Goshawk (Accipiter albogularis), an Imitator Goshawk (Accipiter imitator), a Buff-headed Coucal (Centropus milo), a Black-faced Pitta (Pitta anerythra), the Melanesian Megapode (Megapodius eremita) and Blyth’s Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus).

Kyrgyzstan is active with its BirdLife International issues. Above, from 2019 is the Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax).

The following year’s stamp featured the White-browed tit-warbler (Leptopoecile sophiae) a rare, non-migratory bird native to Kyrgyzstan. It belongs to the Long-tailed tit family of birds from the order Passerine. This is one of the smallest representatives of Kyrgyz fauna.

Then, the 2021 and 2023 stamps had the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) and the Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus), a migratory bird from the duck family. A characteristic feature of the appearance of these geese is the presence of two black bars on the crown and nape. In Kyrgyzstan, they nest exclusively on the high mountain lake Chatyr-Kul.


From Belarus, its BirdLife International stamps from 2020 and 2022 depicted the Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and, below, an Azure Tit (Cyanistes cyanus).
