Bird - Laysan Teal Wildfowl Trust 1972 Dixon postcard

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Laysan Teal at the Wildfowl Trust
• Publisher:  J Arthur Dixon (No. WL1801)
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  3p ultramarine definitive
• Postmark(s):  Melton Mowbray 15 Feb 1972
• Sent to:  Shurdington near Cheltenham, Glos.
• Notes & Key words: 

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Postage & Packing:

UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

Europe: £1.60

Rest of world (inc. USA etc): £2.75

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

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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!

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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The Laysan Duck (Anas laysanensis), also known as the Laysan Teal because of its small size, is an endangered dabbling duck endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Fossil evidence reveals that Laysan Ducks once lived across the entire archipelago, but today survive only on three small, isolated islands.

Named by Lionel Walter Rothschild in 1892, the Laysan Duck is named after Laysan island, one of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is a member of the mallard clade of dabbling ducks, and is a highly behaviorally and genetically unusual species. Recent evidence suggests they evolved from an east Asian, southern hemisphere ancestor of mallards, not from stray migratory Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) as had been reported in the past.^[1]

The Laysan Duck is teal-sized and dark brown, with a prominent white eye-ring. The bill is short and spatulate, dark green with variable black blotching in males, and dull orange with variable black blotching in females. Some males show faint iridescence on the head or neck and have slightly upturned central tail feathers. The wing has an iridescent purplish-green patch (speculum feathers) in both sexes. Leucistism, or extensive white feathering, is common on the head and neck of older birds. The legs and feet are orange, usually brighter in the male. The annual pre-basic molt is complete, and the ducks lose all their flight feathers and become incapable of flight until new feathers grow in. Wild ducks have been known to live to the age of twelve years, and captive birds have lived to the age of eighteen.