COVER N.105 - PALAU

Postmark:  - ROP Philatelic Office , Koror, PW 08-04-22 / Honolulu HI 967 18-04-22 

Posted on the 8th April  received on the 26th April 2022

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Second cover I got from the Republic of Palau, and I was not at all waiting for it, so it came as a great surprise. Thanks a lot Stephen.

Let me quote from a Nat Geo article I read on the Portuguese Nat Geo website:

"Approximately two years ago, Palau officialy designated some 500 thousand km2 of its maritime territory as protected marine reserve, where no fishing or extractive activities are allowed. The reserve became the sixth largest of the type at worldwide level - the island of Palau is smaller than the city of New York and, on the other hand, the country's protected maritime area is larger than the state of California"

The article goes on to say that the reserve proved its worth and that biomass in it was twice that of the unprotected areas.

This is the kind of news that makes you believe there is still hope for mankind, in spite of the constant reminders that it just might not be that way, if we as a species are not able to deal with our own creations ... a capital bombed when the Secretary General of the UN was visiting it; temperatures running into the 50ºs C in India and Pakistan; a country in the hands of a bunch of alienated people who prohibit  music and education, and the list goes on, and on...

further down the article states:

Palau relies, to a great measure, on an healthy marine ecosystem. It has one of the highest biodiversity rates in the whole world and  a significant part of its economical revenues are generated by environmental tourism.

Hail Palau! let your success be the success of us all.

In a country so deeply dependent on nature, it is no great wonder that a lot of its stamp emissions are centred on fauna, flora and scenery (although you can find a lot of stamps one other themes not so easy to correlate, like Elvis....) even if not always local.

I can't resist mentioning something I noticed when researching for these lines:

in 2020, Palau issued two souvenir sheets dedicated to butterflies. they feature each 4 stamps, the butterflies being identified by legends as the same on each block, that is to say, there would be 2 photographs of each butterfly species, one in each block. so far so good, but....

One of the species featured is the Pieris rapae, the well known cabbage butterfly, but in one of the blocks the image is not of this species but of another member of the Pieridae family, probably the Euchloe crameri, and this I am 100% positive, because both species are common around here, and I've photographed them.

Euchloe crameri

Pieris rapae

Anyway, it can happen to the best, and I suspect that the second "corrected" souvenir sheet was issued to replace the first, but then there would be no point in replacing all the other photos... anyone knows anything about this?

Stamps on the cover, left to right

The second stamp emission after Palau's independence that ocurred in 1983, was of a block of four 20 Cent stamps, issued on 16MAY1983, dedicated to the Birds of Palau.

One of them is that on my cover, with the illustration of a Palau Fruit-dove (Ptilinopus pelewensis), the national bird of the country, endemic and common, and an absolute smasher in terms of beauty. 

I could not find any information on the 22 Cent stamp dedicated to the UN International Year of Peace, but I'm sure it is a rather recent item. The stamp is illustrated with a classic scene .. a propeller of a WW2 aircraft surrounded by colourful fish  of the kind we'd expect to see in Palau's waters.

the 44 C stamp pair is part of a block of four issued on 19FEB1988, dedicated to "Ground Dwellers". the lovely illustrations are of the Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus)on the leftside stamp and of the Buff-banded Rail (Rallus philippensis), on the right side stamp.

The Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) like all herons is a member of the Ardeidae family, and it can be found in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Java, New Caledonia, Palau, and the Caroline Islands, Federated States of Micronesia.

The Buff-banded Rail is a small chicken like bird of the ralidae family which is quite common across australasia. 

Both birds have a least concern conservation status in the IUCN classification.

The cover exhibits 2 postmarks, one manual from the philatelic office of Palau in  Koror, and another, machine applied in Honolulu, Hawai, where I presume the cover transited through, (I think I've read it is the USPS that handles Palau's mail).