Detail

`The Ministry of Information and Communication is continuing to phase in new definitive stamps to replace old ones that have been in circulation for a while.The 20-won definitive stamp showing a `stork` has been used since May 24, 1993, and it is now being replaced with a `black-crowned night heron` stamp. The black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a summer migrant bird of the family Ardeidae.The bird spends summer in Korea and flies to Southeast Asia in early autumn. About 57 cm long, both male and female birds look alike in plumage, with greenish-blue look lustrous black heads and backs.It is white on the cheeks, under the chin, and on the breast and belly, while black on the beak and yellow on the legs.It builds nests on the branches of Japan cedars, pine trees or thickets of assorted shrubs, where it lays three to six eggs.This nocturnal bird roots on rice paddies, ponds, and fields of reeds during the day and begins to hunt for food at night.The black-crowned night heron eats primarily fish, shrimps, frogs, snakes, and insects. This species breeds from central regions of Korea, Japan, Sakhalin, Eurasia, and Africa and spends the winter in Taiwan, the Philippines, the Malay peninsula, and Indochina. Why don`t you set out looking for the black-crowned night heron this summer, carrying an envelope bearing this 20-won stamp with you?`