Owl stamp from Madagascar (Malagasy)

The Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic) is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world.

Marsh Owl (Asio capensis - Asio helvola hova) 

The Marsh owl has populations scattered across Botswana, Zimbabwe and large areas of South Africa, living mainly in tall grassland. It usually hunts in the day, eating insects but also small vertebrates, mainly hunting on the wing. It usually nests in a slight depression in the ground, surrounded by dense grass and weeds, making it difficult to find. Here it lays 2-6, usually 2-4 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female, for about 27-28 days. The male does all the hunting, storing his prey in "caches", to be eaten later by either him or the female. The chicks stay in the nest for about 14-18 days, after which they crawl around the surrounding bush for a few weeks, at least until they learn to fly, becoming independent about a month later. - www.biodiversityexplorer.org/

Release date: 1991

Owl stamp from Poland

Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo)

Release date: 1960

Owls from Chantecler - postcard (private swap)

Last week-end took place a small meeting of Romanian postcrossers and Gabriela made me a very pleasant surprise: she gave me an old postcard with owls (It may be printed in 1910). 

 

'Chantecler' is a verse play in four acts, written by Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), a French poet and dramatist. The play is notable in that all the characters are farmyard animals including the main protagonist, a chanticleer, or rooster. The play centers on the theme of idealism and spiritual sincerity, as contrasted with cynicism and artificiality. Much of the play satirizes modernist artistic doctrines from Rostand's romanticist perspective.

Act II

At night, the nighttime birds of prey, along with the cat and the Blackbird, plot to kill Chantecler because his crowing interrupts their nefarious plans. They devise a plot to lure Chantecler to the weekly soirée held by the fashionable Guinea Hen, where they will also invite a famous game cock to assassinate Chantecler. The pheasant overhears, but the Blackbird persuades her not to tell Chantecler of the plot. When Chantecler appears to crow for the dawn, the pheasant persuades him to attend the soirée, and also to confess his secret belief that his crowing makes the sun rise. The Blackbird, hiding in a flower pot, eavesdrops through the hole in the pot's bottom, but because his position doesn't allow him to see the sunrise, he assumes Chantecler's confession is only a ruse to seduce the pheasant. After the pheasant leaves, Blackbird tells Chantecler that the game cock will attend Guinea Hen's soirée, and Chantecler insists on attending and confronting him.

About postcard: Chantecler, Acte II, Les Nocturnes, "L'ode a la nuit", Copyright by Le Deley

Owl stamps from Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of 1992, when it peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1. Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo)

Release date: 1986
Denomination: 50 haleru

2. Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)

Release date: 1986
Denomination: 2 koruna

3. Tawny (Brown) Owl (Strix aluco)

Release date: 1986
Denomination: 3 koruna

4. Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Release date: 1986
Denomination: 4 koruna

5. Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)

Release date: 1986
Denomination: 5 koruna

Owl stamp from Western Sahara

The Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand, when it was a Spanish colony. In 1966, the UN called on Spain directly for the first time to decolonize the territory. After initially being violently opposed to decolonization, Spain began to give in and by 1974–75 issued promises of a referendum on independece. The UN attempted to settle these disputes through a visiting mission in late 1975, as well as a verdict from the International Court of Justice, which declared that Western Sahara has historical Links with Morrocco and Mauritania, but population of this territory possessed the right of self-determination.

Desert (Pharaoh) Eagle Owl (Bubo ascalaphus desertorum) 

Large, pale eared owl with yellow or orange eyes. Generally a pale tawny above with black and white markings. Throat white, chest and belly pale tawny to sandy, streaked with black. Race desertorum generally paler. Until recently included as a race of B.bubo with which it has been known to interbreed in parts of Syria and Palestine. However morphology, vocalisations, and DNA are distinct. Intermediates of the 2 races can be found in some areas. - www.owls.org

Release date: 1974

Owl stamp from Jersey

The Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. Together with the Bailiwick of Guernsey, it forms the grouping known as the Channel Islands. Like the Isle of Man, Jersey is a separate possession of the British Crown and is not part of the United Kingdom.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Release date: 1989

Owl Stamp from Ciskey

Ciskei was a Bantustan in the south east of South Africa. It consisted 2,970 square miles (7,700 km³), almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province and possessing a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean. Under South Africa's policy of apartheid, land was set aside for black peoples in self-governing territories. Ciskei and all of the other homelands were reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994, after the first post-apartheid elections.

African Wood Owl (Strix woodfordii)
 

The African wood-owl occurs across Africa south of the Sahel, occupying a variety of woodland and forest habitats. It mainly eats insects and small birds, but it may also take snakes and small mammals. It usually nests in tree hollows, which it uses repeatedly over multiple breeding seasons, even if it gets flooded with water. It lays 1-3, usually 2 eggs, which are incubated solely by the female for about 31 days, with the male doing all of the hunting. The chicks are intensely cared for for the first week of their lives, after which the female only visits the nest occasionally. They learn to fly when they are about 50-60 days old, becoming fully independent a few months later. - www.biodiversityexplorer.org

Release date: 1991