Europa - National Birds

In 2019 the joint stamp series of the European countries is dedicated to the national birds of each member state. Latvijas Pasts has also included two new stamps in this series, and both stamps depict the Latvian national bird – the white wagtail. The first day cancellation of the stamps is scheduled to take place in Riga post office No. 10 at 41/43 Elizabetes Street, Riga from 8 AM to 8 PM on the 26th of April 2019. Each philatelic release featuring the white wagtail has a different face value and print run.

The stamp with the face value of € 0.78 is suitable for sending an ordinary Class A letter within the European Union (EU) and its print run is 46,000 copies. Meanwhile the stamp with the face value of € 1.71 can be used to send a registered Class A letter within the EU and its print run is 30,000 copies. The release of the stamps is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,000 copies. The Europaseries stamps and the cover have been designed by the artist Ģirts Grīva.

The white wagtail (Motacilla alba) was recognised as the national bird in 1965, when the the Latvian Society for Nature and Monument Protection and other ornithologists chose it as a widely-known bird in the country, which is also often glorified in Latvian folklore. The white wagtail is easily recognisable by its black and white plumage and its black cap. The wagtail is in continuous motion and runs briskly on the ground, but when it stops, it sways its long and slender tail up and down. The wagtail is a migratory bird that spends winters in warm climates and returns at the beginning of April when the snow has melted away.