Giant Canada Postage Stamps

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  675 Commissioners St.
Date:  March 2024

  Canada Post has a Delivery Centre at the corner of Commissioners Street and Leslie Street in Toronto. It has nine giant stamps along its Leslie Street wall.  The stamps all contain Canadian birds. Many birders pass this building each day on their way to Tommy Thompson Park. The park is known for the large variety of birds that visit. Let's take a look at these stamps and the featured birds.

 

   This stamp features the Canada goose. The photo at the top of this blog is of Canada geese at Tommy Thompson Park. Canada geese are easily found all over Toronto near almost any water source.

 

 

Loon babies like to ride on the backs of their parents. This giant stamp features a male loon with a pair of babies.

     The loon above was spotted in Tadoussac, Quebec. It didn't have any babies on its back.

         This stamp is of a raven. Ravens are about twice as big as crows and have more rough feathers on their neck.

 

        This raven followed us around as we hiked in Algonquin Park. Ravens are about as smart as a 7 year old child and can remember faces for years. Perhaps we had met this raven before ?

    Toronto loves blue jays. After all it is the name of their baseball team. This blue jay was part of a group in High Park.

    This blue jay stamp shows a flying jay. Probably sliding into home plate for the winning run.

     This stamp is of a chickadee. It looks like it is doing a dance with its wings.

  This chickadee was seen fluttering around in the bushes at Humber Bay Park East.

 The remaining stamps are all of different raptors. This stamp is of a gyrfalcon. 

   Gyrfalcons are usually found up in the arctic. We have never seen a wild one. This gyrfalcon was at the Toronto Zoo.

  The other raptor stamps are all of owls.  This one is a great grey owl. It is the North America's tallest owl from head to tip of the tail.

 This is another species that does not make it down to Toronto.  We saw this one in the Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg.  The great grey owl is the provincial bird of Manitoba.

This stamp is another great owl. This is the great horned owl.

High Park in Toronto is known for breeding pairs of this owl.  We have still not encountered any.  We have heard them calling in the night. This owl is called Butters and works for the Toronto Zoo outreach program.

This last owl stamp is of a snowy owl. While they live and breed in the Arctic they do come down to Toronto during what is called an irruption. This is when there is an increase in the owl population and they have to travel further to find new territory.

 This snowy owl was spotted in Tommy Thompson Park. If you want the chance to see amazing creatures like this then check out the park.  On the way there stop to admire the illustrated stamps that they inspired.

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Map of Our World
Canada Post - Giant Postage Stamps

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Post # 357