Marie Soderburgh, an environmental educator at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, holds Troy, a barred owl, during the Sept. 22 dedication ceremony for the Birds in Winter stamps.
Pricing and Costing Vice President Sharon Owens, who led the ceremony, praised birds for their resourcefulness, resilience and talent, noting they produce some of the most beautiful sounds in nature.
“It’s easy to see why they’re so popular with the American public,” Owens said.
USPS held the ceremony at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, where other speakers discussed the birds featured on the stamps: the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and the red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).
The Birds in Winter stamps feature each subject in a digital rendering that contrasts stark white backgrounds with the bold colors of each bird’s plumage.
The stamps are available in booklets of 20 at Post Offices and usps.com.
USPS Pricing and Costing Vice President Sharon Owens addresses the audience during the ceremony, which was held at the Quechee-based institute.
Hannah Marshall, a local newspaper editor who served as master of ceremonies, shares a laugh with other attendees.
Participants gather near a Birds in Winter stamp poster following its unveiling. From left are Jason Hill, an ornithologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies; Owens; Charlie Rattigan, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science’s executive director; and Marshall.
Chesterland, a Harris’s hawk, rests on a handler’s arm during a demonstration at the end of the ceremony.
Hill and Owens autograph programs for philatelists and other attendees following the ceremony.
Dustin Frazier, a retail associate at the Quechee Post Office, applies a special cancellation to a mailpiece after the ceremony.
