[press release]
Colourful Australian finches highlighted in new stamps
Issue date: March 16, 2018
Australia Post is celebrating the diverse beauty of Australian finches in its latest stamp issue, which features colourful illustrations of the small birds.Australia Post’ is celebrating the diverse beauty of Australian finches in its latest stamp issue, which features colourful illustrations of the small birds.
Australia is home to 19 species of native finch, including firetails and mannikins. These beautiful birds belong to the Estrildidae family of the Passeriformes order, an extensive grouping of songbirds. Also known as grass-finches, they are distinctive in appearance, making some of them popular as aviary birds. Australia’s finches are separate from the Ploceidae family, or the “true finches”, which occur in the Americas, Eurasia and Africa.
Ornithologist Wayne Longmore, who consulted on the stamp issue, said: “Australian finches are varied, colourful and full of character; these four stamps represent those three things, and they include both the unusual and common.”
The four domestic base-rate ($1) stamps, designed by John White of the Australia Post Design Studio, feature the illustrations of wildlife artist Kevin Stead, who is a frequent contributor to Australian Geographic magazine.
The stamps in this issue feature the following species:
The Blue-faced Parrot-Finch (Erythrura trichroa) has some 10 subspecies across Australia, Melanesia and Micronesia. It is renowned for its blue face and bright green body. In Australia, its territory is restricted to just the eastern side of Cape York Peninsula, as far south as Cairns.- The Double-barred Finch
(Taeniopygia bichenovii) takes its name from the two narrow black bands across its pale chest and encircling much of its face. The Double-barred Finch stays close to surface water and occupies a range of habitats, including pandanus, long grasses, open forests, scrublands and grassy woodlands. 
The Star Finch (Neochmia ruficauda) is a brightly coloured species, with great individual variation in its plumage. It is mainly olive green with a scarlet face and white spots on its underparts and tail, but the depth of scarlet on the face and the number and size of its spots varies by bird. Always close to water, the Star Finch prefers tall, rank grasses, swamp rushes and moist green vegetation.
The Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is named for the adult male’s finely barred black-and-white chest and more heavily barred tail. It also has a conspicuous orange ear patch below a blue-grey brow and a bright orange beak. This species covers most of continental Australia and as such has a varied habitat, including rank grass, spinifex tussocks and mulga woodlands, as well as urban parks and backyards.
The products available with this stamp issue are a first day cover, stamp pack, maxicard set, booklet of 10 x $1 stamps and a roll of 100 x $1 stamps. The Australian Finches stamp issue is available at participating Post Offices, via mail order on 1800 331 794 and online at auspost.com.au/stamps, while stocks last.
Visit auspostcollectables.com.au for more information on the Australian Finches stamp issue.
