Magyar Posta presents the characteristic animal life of Hungary by annually issuing a new stamp series and a block. Birds of prey are this year’s new features. Állami Nyomda printed 80,000 copies of the block depicting the common buzzard, the 2012 bird of the year, based on the design by graphic artist Kálmán Székely. The graphic composition of the frame shows the characteristic movements of a hunting common buzzard, which can be seen in its full splendour in the actual stamp image. The stamps that accompany the block – issued on 4 May 2012 – depict in the rising order of their nominal values the eastern imperial eagle, the white-tailed eagle, the red-footed falcon and the Saker falcon.
The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) belongs to the accipitriformes order of birds. It is a bird of prey that can be found in high numbers in the plains and highlands of Europe and Asia. It has a permanent presence in the Carpathian Basin. In 2012 the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society selected it as the bird of the year. On the basis of the findings of a census carried out in January 2012, 5,183 common buzzards spent the winter in Hungary. The common buzzard is a protected species in Hungary with a value of 10,000 forints.
Its body length is approximately half a metre and its wingspan is more than double this. It has a heavy, me-dium or large body with wide wings and a short tail. The hen is larger and more bulky than the male. Its plumage varies from dark brown to almost white, which makes it unique among European birds of prey. It chiefly perches on fences and pillars or circles in upward air currents. Its cries can be compared to a mewing sound. It can frequently be seen gliding above open landscapes and the edges of forests with its wings folded upwards into a V shape. It only hunts for small animals and chiefly catches voles but it also eats lizards, snakes, fledglings and insects.
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