Detail

`The Ministry of Communications is issuing the 5th series of postage stamps depicting birds of Korea with black vulture and whooper swan as their theme. 1. Black Vulture : A black vulture is covered with blackish drak­brown down all over the forehead, top of head, eyebrows, cheeks, chin and foreneck, while the back of head is downy with longer fluff also of dark brown. The feather else­where is also dark brown. It lives in open dry fields. In Korea black vultures spend winter in large riversides, lakes, marshes and estuaries. They are found widely in areas ranging from such high lands as Mongolia and Tibet to tundras ans temperate zones along the Mediterranean. In winter they come down to such regions as Sudan, northern India, mainland China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Having been designated as a mounmental bird, No.243, black vultures are under special protection in Korea. 2. Whooper Swan : A whooper swan is all white, with a yellow bill. It is black from the tip of the bill to the back of its nostrils. Its legs are also black. Whooper swans breed in Iceland, northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Uralian region of the Soviet Union and the northwestern Manchuria. They spend winter in such southern regions as Scandinavia, southern Baltic, British isles, Korea, Yangtse River in China, and Japan. In Korea they spend winter mainly in such places as marshes, lakes, riversides and inlets. They are also under special protection in Korea, having been designated as natural monument No.201.`