Birds Perched, Birds Flying, Birds Aground

The Belgian artist Jean Van Noten was a very prolific stamp designer, designed hundreds of stamps for Belgium and ex Belgian colonies like Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Among them he designed many sets show fauna and flora of Africa like the Rwanda and Congo sets I posted in pages 62 and 64 of this thread, respectively. But, in my opinion, his most attractive and extraordinary fauna set is the colorful bird set of ten stamps he designed for Rwanda and was issued on December 18, 1967. Here are the first five of them:

Red Bishop (Euplectes orix)
Woodland Kingfisher (Halcyon senegalensis)
Red-billed Quelea (Quelea quelea)
Double-toothed Barbet (Lybius bidentatus)
Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura)

Here are the rest five in the set:

Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius)
Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus)
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates)
Regal Sunbird (Nectarinia regius)
Fan-tailed Widowbird (Euplectes axillaris)






More Van Noten's birds to come...

More from the hands of the Belgian artist Jean Van Noten is the set of ten native bird stamps issued for Rwanda on May 17, 1972. Here are the first five of them:

Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild)
Collared Sunbird (Anthreptes collaris)
Variable Sunbird (Cinnyris venustus)
Greater Double-collared Sunbird (Cinnyris afer)
Ruwenzori Puff-back Flycatcher (Batis diops)

....and the rest five of the set:

Red-billed Fire Finch (Lagonosticta senegala)
Scarlet-chested Sunbird (Nectarinia senegalensis)
Red-headed Quelea (Quelea erythrops)
Black-headed Gonolek (Laniarius erythrogaster)
African Golden Oriole (Oriolus auratus)

Protected animals, designed by V. Wurnitsch, engraved by Alfred Nefe and issued by Austria on September 9, 1982:

Great Bustard (Otis tarda)
Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)

Aquatic Birds, designed by the Belgian artist Jean Van Noten and issued by Rwanda on June 30, 1975:

Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus)
Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata)
Goliath Heron (Ardea goliath)
Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis)
African Jacana (Actophilornis africana)
African Darter (Anhinga rufa)
Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus)
Hartlaub's Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubi)

Two spectacular SS's, also work of Jean Van Noten, were issued together with the above set of aquatic birds:

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber):

South African Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum):

Schönbrunn is a zoological garden located on the grounds of the famous Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. Founded as an imperial menagerie in 1752, it is the oldest zoo in the world.

200th anniversary of Schönbrunn zoological garden, designed by Ernst Schrom, engraved by Friedrich Teubel and issued by Austria on May 24, 1952. Note the four species of birds on the frame:

The 250th anniversary of Schönbrunn zoological garden, designed by Adolf Tuma, engraved by Wolfgang Seidel and issued by Austria on June 3, 2002. Different birds on the margin and on two stamps: