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#3224
1998 32c Tropical Birds: Crested Honeycreeper
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US #3224
1998 Crested Honeycreeper
- Part of set of 4 picturing birds native to islands belonging to US
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Tropical Birds
Value: 32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: July 29, 2998
First Day City: Ponce, Puerto Rico
Quantity Issued: 17,500,000
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Pane of 20
Perforations: 11.2
Why the stamp was issued: This stamp is part of a set of four featuring a popular stamp subject – birds. These species are from tropical areas with strong relationships to the US.
About the stamp design: Artist Robert Giusti was the talent behind the illustrations of tropical birds shown on these stamps. The Crested Honeycreeper is perched next to Ohia Lehua blossom. Giusti’s paintings had previously been featured on definitive stamps and the 1992 Wild Animals stamps.
Special design details: Each stamp has a microprinted “USPS” included in the design. On this stamp, it can be found below the leaves in the middle of the cluster of leaves.
First Day City: The First Day of Issue ceremony took place at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica Amphitheatre in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Two of the bird species are native to this US territory.
About the Tropical Birds set: This four-stamp se-tenant features tropical birds that are native to the islands belonging to the United States. The Antillean Euphonia resides in the thick mountain forests of Puerto Rico. The Green-throated Carib is also found in Puerto Rico, but along the northeast coast. The Crested Honeycreeper is an endangered species from the rain forests of Maui, and the Cardinal Honeyeater lives on the South Pacific island of Samoa. [Quick overview of the set/other stamps included in it, may link to other stamps/the complete set at the end. General story of the set/other stamps included in it, may link to other stamps/the complete set at the end.]
History these stamps represent: The endangered crested honeycreeper is found only in the upper rainforests of East Maui. Once widespread throughout the Hawaiian Islands, the honeycreeper is now confined to the most remote areas. Called “Akohekohe” in Hawaiian, the bird displays some of the most unusual colors of any of the native honeycreepers. It is one of about 22 species believed to have come from a common ancestral species that arrived in Hawaii thousands of years ago.
All honeycreepers mate between December and July, and the young hatch from their eggs after a three-week incubation period. One bird can lay two or three eggs in cup-shaped nests they build on tree branches. Both parents are responsible for feeding the young. Honeycreepers are divided into subgroups. Birds of one group feed mainly on nectar, while those belonging to the other group eat seeds.
The Hawaiian honeycreeper is being seriously threatened by natural predators as well as man. Tree rats are its primary enemy. But man’s destruction of the birds’ habitats is a more significant threat. Because of inaccessibility to remote areas where the birds live, it is difficult to determine the exact decrease in the number of honeycreepers.
US #3224
1998 Crested Honeycreeper
- Part of set of 4 picturing birds native to islands belonging to US
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Tropical Birds
Value: 32¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: July 29, 2998
First Day City: Ponce, Puerto Rico
Quantity Issued: 17,500,000
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Pane of 20
Perforations: 11.2
Why the stamp was issued: This stamp is part of a set of four featuring a popular stamp subject – birds. These species are from tropical areas with strong relationships to the US.
About the stamp design: Artist Robert Giusti was the talent behind the illustrations of tropical birds shown on these stamps. The Crested Honeycreeper is perched next to Ohia Lehua blossom. Giusti’s paintings had previously been featured on definitive stamps and the 1992 Wild Animals stamps.
Special design details: Each stamp has a microprinted “USPS” included in the design. On this stamp, it can be found below the leaves in the middle of the cluster of leaves.
First Day City: The First Day of Issue ceremony took place at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica Amphitheatre in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Two of the bird species are native to this US territory.
About the Tropical Birds set: This four-stamp se-tenant features tropical birds that are native to the islands belonging to the United States. The Antillean Euphonia resides in the thick mountain forests of Puerto Rico. The Green-throated Carib is also found in Puerto Rico, but along the northeast coast. The Crested Honeycreeper is an endangered species from the rain forests of Maui, and the Cardinal Honeyeater lives on the South Pacific island of Samoa. [Quick overview of the set/other stamps included in it, may link to other stamps/the complete set at the end. General story of the set/other stamps included in it, may link to other stamps/the complete set at the end.]
History these stamps represent: The endangered crested honeycreeper is found only in the upper rainforests of East Maui. Once widespread throughout the Hawaiian Islands, the honeycreeper is now confined to the most remote areas. Called “Akohekohe” in Hawaiian, the bird displays some of the most unusual colors of any of the native honeycreepers. It is one of about 22 species believed to have come from a common ancestral species that arrived in Hawaii thousands of years ago.
All honeycreepers mate between December and July, and the young hatch from their eggs after a three-week incubation period. One bird can lay two or three eggs in cup-shaped nests they build on tree branches. Both parents are responsible for feeding the young. Honeycreepers are divided into subgroups. Birds of one group feed mainly on nectar, while those belonging to the other group eat seeds.
The Hawaiian honeycreeper is being seriously threatened by natural predators as well as man. Tree rats are its primary enemy. But man’s destruction of the birds’ habitats is a more significant threat. Because of inaccessibility to remote areas where the birds live, it is difficult to determine the exact decrease in the number of honeycreepers.
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