Waterfowl Birds

Links with China : Waterfowl Birds

Date of Issue : 22 September 2016

Here is a beautiful set of stamps to be issued by Jersey ost on 22 September 2016. Western Europe and most of China present two ends of the same eco-zone, the Palearctic. Despite the huge distance between China and the tiny island of Jersey which is situated between mainland Great Britain and France, many species of waterfowl are common to both regions. To underline this natural connection between such different countries Jersey Post has prepared for issuing a special set of six stamps depicting gorgeous Waterfowl birds.

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans. They have historically been an important food source, and continue to be hunted as game, or raised as poultry for meat and eggs and are sometimes kept as pets.

They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies with webbed feet and a broad, flat, and somewhat rounded-tip bill. Some species dive deep for fishes or mollusks, others feed near the surface or filter through shallow bottom sediments. Some even graze on land. Most species of waterfowl are migratory. The fossil of the bird Presbyornis shows a long-legged shorebird-like form with a duck-like bill. This fossil, which is some 50 million years old, so good may suggest an evolutionary relationship between Anseriformes and shorebirds.