On 2 January 2025, PostNL will release the Experience nature – birds Sint Eustatius stamp sheet, featuring 10 different designs. The stamps are denominated 1, for mail weighing up to 20 grams sent within the Netherlands. The price of a sheet with 10 stamps is €12.10. This stamp sheet, focusing on the birds of Sint Eustatius, is part of the multi-year Experience nature series, dedicated to the biodiversity of the Caribbean Netherlands during 2024-2026. Each year, four stamp sheets will be issued, each with 10 different stamps. These stamps feature plants and animals found in this part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This region boasts remarkable biodiversity, with thousands of plant and animal species. In 2025, the stamps will focus on the island's birds, butterflies, underwater world, and flora. The Experience nature – birds Sint Eustatius stamps highlight the following birds: merlin, laughing gull, indigo bunting, lesser Antillean bullfinch, semipalmated plover, green heron, purple-throated carib, royal tern, American oystercatcher, and northern parula.
SINT EUSTATIUS
Like Bonaire and Saba, the island of Sint Eustatius holds a special status within the Netherlands. These three islands are collectively referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands. Along with Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten, they make up the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Known locally as Statia, Sint Eustatius is one of the Leeward Islands, referring to their position relative to the prevailing northeastern trade winds. The island lies between Saba and Saint Kitts and is separated from them by shallow seas. Its sole town and capital is Oranjestad. Since 2010, Sint Eustatius has been a special municipality, governed by an island council, which is responsible for local legislation, with executive power held by island commissioners appointed by the council and overseen by the island governor. Sint Eustatius has a population of around 3,000 people, and the official language is English. The island is dominated by the dormant volcano The Quill (601 metres) in the southeast and the extinct volcanic area surrounding Bergje hill (223 metres) in the north. It boasts three national parks: Quill/Boven National Park, Statia National Marine Park, and the Miriam Schmidt Botanical Garden.
BIRDS OF SINT EUSTATIUS
Sint Eustatius is a haven for bird enthusiasts, with a rich diversity of species. According to Bird Checklists of the World (2022), 123 different bird species have been recorded on the island, including approximately 30 breeding species. Among the island’s remarkable avian residents is the smallest bird in the Kingdom of the Netherlands: the Antillean crested hummingbird. Another notable resident, shared with nearby Saba, is the red-billed tropicbird. These islands are home to 40% of the world’s 8,000 breeding pairs of this species. Known for its striking red bill and long tail, this seabird nests on the cliffs and rocks of the islands’ coasts. The red-billed tropicbird is the only seabird that breeds on Sint Eustatius. Bird conservation efforts on the island are supported by Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Netherlands) through collaboration with local organisations and the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance. Initiatives include projects aimed at preventing nest predation by rats and feral cats, and protecting the endangered bridled quail-dove.
DESIGN
The Experience nature – birds Sint Eustatius stamp sheet was designed by graphic designer Frank Janse from Gouda. Each bird is portrayed in its natural habitat on its own stamp. The featured birds are the merlin, laughing gull, indigo bunting, lesser Antillean bullfinch, semipalmated plover, green heron, purple-throated carib, royal tern, American oystercatcher, and northern parula. All bird photos are integrated into a graphic design of circular shapes, which also appear on the sheet’s border. In some instances, the image extends onto the adjacent stamp and the border. Janse has also added graphic elements at various points on the stamp sheet, inspired by symbols found on old topographic maps, such as representations of landscape forms, contour lines, vegetation, soil structures, and watercourses. The design is further enhanced by an extra transparent layer of monochromatic images (both white and coloured) of distinctive flora and fauna from the region. These images are rendered in an almost abstract style, crossing over the perforations and connecting the stamps with each other and with the sheet border. Featured flora and fauna include the brown booby (top), green heron (top left), aloe vera (top right), brown pelican (below centre), and white cedar leaves (below centre).
TYPOGRAPHY
The typography on the stamp sheet uses the DIN 2014 font, designed by Vasily Biryukov from Bulgaria and released by Paratype in 2015. The captions on the stamps creatively and humorously express designer Frank Janse’s associations with the names, characteristics, and appearances of the featured birds.
DESIGNER
The Experience nature stamp series is dedicated to the plants and animals of the Caribbean Netherlands in 2024, 2025, and 2026. In 2024, the spotlight was on Bonaire, and this year, the focus shifts to Sint Eustatius, an island located over 800 kilometres northeast of Bonaire. Both islands are tropical, but in many ways they differ, says Frank Janse, the designer of the Experience nature series and the Experience nature – birds Sint Eustatius stamp sheet. “Geologically, Sint Eustatius is essentially an extinct volcano with a large crater,” he says. “There is a lot of forest, the climate is wetter than on the Leeward Islands, and this is reflected in the flora and fauna. For instance, there are three different species of hummingbirds on Sint Eustatius. These tiny birds prefer forests, or they’ll be blown away. Migratory birds, however, have overlapping routes between the islands. There are several migration paths, both windward and leeward. Most migratory birds can be found on both routes. Our selection of 10 birds for the stamps was based on species and habitat diversity, so you’ll see both forest dwellers and coastal birds, breeding birds and migratory visitors.”
Colour accents
Janse sought visually diverse and interesting images for the 10 selected birds, particularly in terms of colour. “The colours that dominate the stamp sheet are blue and green. Blue is used, for example, for the flying laughing gull and other coastal birds. Green is for the birds that prefer to stay near the forest. Other colour accents were added to break up the blue-green palette: yellow for the background flora, and red or reddish-brown seen in the chest of the lesser Antillean bullfinch, the throat of the purple-throated carib, and the beak of the American oystercatcher. The colours are softer than those used in last year’s stamps on the nature of Bonaire. That was intentional. We always aim to give each stamp sheet its own unique character, especially when it comes to colour. It mustn't feel repetitive.”
Photo availability
Not every plant or animal featured in the Experience nature series is abundantly available in photo libraries, but for the birds of Sint Eustatius, there was a large selection. “There was plenty to choose from,” says Janse. “Of course, some species were better represented than others. Some of the birds, like the merlin, are also found in mainland Europe. The laughing gull closely resembles the black-headed gull, while the semipalmated plover and American oystercatcher have European counterparts that are quite similar. Other birds, like the purple-throated carib and lesser Antillean bullfinch, are more specific to Sint Eustatius. The photos were taken on Sint Eustatius or at least nearby. We were careful to ensure that no background elements, like plants, appeared that don't grow on Sint Eustatius. Most of the birds featured on the sheet are relatively small, which seems fitting for a small island. Whether that’s a coincidence, I can’t say – I’m not enough of a biologist for that.”
Image selection
The selection of all animals and plants for the 12 stamp sheets in the Experience nature series for 2024-2026 was made in advance. Janse explains: “Image selection is always the first step. We then look for photos of each bird in a variety of positions: sitting, standing, flying, zoomed in, zoomed out, etc. We combine these in the template for the stamp sheet, trying to avoid repetition. For example, if you choose a close-up of a sitting bird, like the merlin, you balance that with a zoomed-out image, like the flying laughing gull. This is always an intensive phase, working with about 10 different stamp sheet variants. They are all visually appealing, but we aim for perfection. This involves swapping and shifting images around. Logic plays a part too – for example, you place flying birds at the top of the sheet and standing or sitting birds at the bottom. There are various other visual and aesthetic considerations at play. For instance, you’ll notice that all the birds either look at each other or at us as viewers.”
Connections
After selecting the bird images, the next step is to connect the birds on the stamps with each other through various graphic elements, staying within the fixed design concept of the Experience nature series. This involves using transparent nature images, typography, overlapping circles, continuous colours, and so on. “I already take this into account when selecting the photos,” says Janse. “Ideas for possible connections come to mind right away. Then it’s a matter of endless trial and error – shifting, moving, and starting over. On the Experience nature – birds Sint Eustatius stamp sheet, for example, there are now five transparent images, either white or coloured. But I originally created 15 such images, from which these five were chosen as the best fit. The goal was for each stamp to be intersected by a transparent image. In this issue, we achieved that by placing images at key intersections: the brown booby appears across the top four stamps, and the green pelican on the four stamps below. They’re perfectly positioned now, but it took some time. The pelican, for example, has been placed in various spots on the sheet.”
Continuous colours
The stamps are also connected to each other through colours that, in some cases, run across the perforations. Janse explains: “Sometimes I use the existing background colour, like with the indigo bunting and lesser Antillean bullfinch. The background colour of the merlin photo above is also clearly visible in the transparent image of the brown booby. Other times, I edit the photos around the edges, so that, for instance, the soft green of palm fronds behind the green heron continues onto the stamp featuring the semipalmated plover.”
Contrasts
Most of the bird photos were taken with a telephoto lens, zooming in on the bird so that the background is blurred. “For the hummingbird photo, an extremely short shutter speed was used,” says Janse. “Otherwise, you’d never capture those rapidly beating wings so clearly. That frozen motion contrasts nicely with the procession of three royal terns next to it. There’s actually a fourth tern, but it’s on the sheet border. These are the kinds of birds you always see running up and down the shoreline, chasing the waves in search of food. You can also see contrasts on the bottom row of stamps: the close-up portrait of the black-and-white oystercatcher with its bright red beak and eye, opposite the soft, pastel-hued northern parula.”
Topographic maps
In addition to continuous colours, circles, and transparent images, Janse uses graphic elements in his design based on the symbols that cartographers use to illustrate landscape features. “I always associate islands like Sint Eustatius with old topographic maps. For these stamps, I’ve actually depicted the contour lines of the island itself. You can see them at the top left, bottom left, and to the right of the centre. I’ve also included other symbols, like wave patterns to represent the sea, and clumps of grass for vegetation. I always add these symbols in the final phase of the design. They’re ideal for filling in empty spaces and adding accents, as well as creating new connections between the different images.”
About the designer
Frank Janse (born 1967 in Vlissingen) graduated as a graphic designer from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in 2001. He specialises in corporate identity, branding, infographics, and communication campaigns. Until 2019, Janse worked for various advertising and design agencies, including Room for ID's, and ran his own design studio, Frank Grafisch Ontwerp in Gouda. In 2019, he co-founded Leene Visuele Communicatie with Leene Communicatie, focusing on designing communication materials with an emphasis on content and information design. Leene Visuele Communicatie’s clients include housing corporation Rochdale, PostNL, Randstad Groep Nederland, the Dutch government, Vattenfall, and ZonMw (the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development). Since late 2022, Frank has been design director and co-owner of VormVijf in The Hague. VormVijf works for governments, businesses, and organisations, primarily serving organised citizens as its main target audience. The agency connects strategy, design, and content with the aim of innovating, surprising, and making an impact. For PostNL, Janse has previously designed several luxury storage systems and personal stamps, including various themed collections. He also created the designs for the Experience nature series from 2018-2025. In 2024, Janse designed the stamp sheet and stamps featuring the Regalia of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 24-karat gold, and in 2023, the Holland America Line 150 years, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Juliana’s Inauguration 1948 stamps, also in 24-karat gold.
