Life In Australia

On the back of the postcard from Malaysia, which I received as part of the Postcard/Link Exchange of 2009, there is a stamp depicting a colourful bird. It is the ‘Mural Batu’ or white-rumped shama. On the stamp, I can see that the bird has navy blue and orange markings, as well as a white rump and a long black tail.

As I have encountered so many colourful birds in Australia, I was interested to find out more about the white-rumped shama. I was surprised to find out from wikipedia that the white-rumped shama is a small bird (9 to 11 inches long and only about 1 ounce in weight) and a member of the thrush family. From the picture on the stamp, I would have thought that it was much larger. The white-rumped shama has a loud, clear, and melodious call and it sometimes mimic other birds.

I was interested to hear that white-rumped shamas were introduced in Hawaii (from Malaysia) in 1931. I don’t remember seeing any when I visited Hawaii but perhaps that is because they are small, shy birds.

On the subject of stamps, I bought these cool Australian stamps from the Post Office last week. They have photos of Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman with the words ‘Australian Legends’ at the side. You can see the whole collection of four stamps, also featuring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, here.