Bird - Kingfisher - art postcard by RS Art Press - 1932 pmk

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Kingfisher 
• Publisher: 'RS' Art Press
• Postally used: yes
• Stamp:  George V 1d carmine
• Postmark(s): Canterbury 1932 "The Telephone - a Sound Investment" slogan postmark
• Sent to:  Master Geoffrey Robbins, Westonville School, 12 Westbrook Road, Margate
• Notes / condition:  slight bumped corner

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

I will give a full refund if you are not fully satisfied with the postcard.

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) also known as the Eurasian kingfisher, and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but migrates from areas where rivers freeze in winter.

This sparrow-sized bird has the typical short-tailed, large-headed kingfisher profile; it has blue upperparts, orange underparts and a long bill. It feeds mainly on fish, caught by diving, and has special visual adaptations to enable it to see prey under water. The glossy white eggs are laid in a nest at the end of a burrow in a riverbank.

This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Gracula atthis.^[2] The modern binomial name derives from the Latin alcedo, "kingfisher" (from Greek ἀλκυών, halcyon) and Atthis, a beautiful young woman of Lesbos, and favourite of Sappho.^[3]

The genus Alcedo comprises a number of small, exclusively fish-eating kingfishers. The common kingfisher’s closest relatives in the genus are three similar blue-backed, orange-breasted species, the blue-eared, half-collared and Blyth's kingfishers.^[4]

This species has the typical short-tailed, dumpy-bodied large-headed and long-billed kingfisher shape. The adult male of the western Europeansubspecies, A. a. ispida has green-blue upperparts with pale azure-blue back and rump, a rufous patch by the bill base, and a rufous ear-patch. It has a green-blue neck stripe, white neck blaze and throat, rufous underparts, and a black bill with some red at the base. The legs and feet are bright red.^[5] It is about 16 centimetres (6.3 in) long with a wingspan of 25 cm (9.8 in),^[5] and weighs 34–46 grams (1.2–1.6 oz).^[6]

The female is identical in appearance to the male except that her lower mandible is orange-red with a black tip. The juvenile is similar to the adult, but with duller and greener upperparts and paler underparts. Its bill is black, and the legs are also initially black.^[5] Feathers are moulted gradually between July and November with the main flight feathers taking 90–100 days to moult and regrow. Some that moult late may suspend their moult during cold winter weather.

The flight of the kingfisher is fast, direct and usually low over water. The short rounded wings whirr rapidly, and a bird flying away shows an electric-blue "flash" down its back.^[6]

In North Africa, Europe and Asia north of the Himalayas this is the only small blue kingfisher. In south and southeast Asia it can be confused with six other small blue-and-rufous kingfishers, but the rufous ear patches distinguish it from all but juvenile blue-eared kingfisher; details of the head pattern may be necessary to differentiate the two species where both occur.^[5]

The common kingfisher has no song. The flight call is a short sharp whistle, chee, repeated two or three times. Anxious birds emit a harsh, shrit-it-itand nestlings call for food with a churring noise.^[5]