Canadian Banknotes 20 Dollars banknote 1991 Queen Elizabeth II
Bank of Canada - Banque du Canada
The green $20 banknote has an obverse featuring Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, the same engraving used for the $2 banknote. The building vignette adjacent to the portrait is the Library of Parliament. The image of the loons was intended for a $1 banknote, but when it was decided to replace that with the $1 loonie coin, the image was instead used for the $20 banknote. The Coat of Arms of Canada is on top. Denomination big in numeral central left and top right.
The reverse featuring two common loon swimming on a lake and stylized background sky depicting the word “CANADA”.
It was introduced on 29 June 1993 and withdrawn on 29 September 2004. In 2003, high-quality counterfeits of the banknote appeared in circulation in Ontario and Quebec.
Printer: Canadian Bank Note Company Limited, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Signatures: Governor of the Bank of Canada - Gordon George Thiessen; Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada - Bernard Bonin.
Canada banknotes - Canada paper money
Birds of Canada series
Birds of Canada are banknotes of the Canadian dollar first circulated by the Bank of Canada in 1986 to replace the Scenes of Canada series. Each note features a bird indigenous to Canada in its design. The banknotes weigh 1 gram with dimensions of 152.40 by 69.85 millimetres (6.00 by 2.75 in). It was succeeded by the Canadian Journey Series introduced in 2001.This was the first series to omit the $1 CAD banknote, which was replaced by the $1 coin known as the loonie in 1987. It was the last series to include the $2 and $1000 CAD banknotes. The $2 CAD note was withdrawn in 1996 and replaced by the $2 coin known as the toonie. The $1000 CAD note was withdrawn by the Bank of Canada in 2000 as part of a program to mitigate money laundering and organized crime.
The portraits on the front of the note were made larger than those of previous series. The $20, $50, $100, and $1000 CAD banknotes had a colour-shifting metallic foil security patch on the upper left corner, an optical security device that was difficult to reproduce with the commercial reproduction equipment of the time. This was the last Canadian banknote series to include planchettes as a security feature.
This series was the first to include a bar code with the serial number. This allows the visually impaired to determine the denomination of a banknote using a hand-held device distributed by the bank of Canada for free via the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
Great northern loon - Common Loon
The great northern loon (Gavia immer), is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. The species is known as the common loon in North America and the great northern diver in Eurasia.
Adults can range from 61 to 100 cm (24 to 39 in) in length with a 122–152 cm (48–60 in) wingspan, slightly smaller than the similar yellow-billed loon (or "white-billed diver"). The weight can vary from 1.6 to 8 kg (3.5 to 17.6 lb). On average, a great northern loon is about 81 cm (32 in) long, has a wingspan of 136 cm (54 in), and weighs about 4.1 kg (9.0 lb).
Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts, and a checkered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is brownish, with the chin and foreneck white. The bill is black-blue and held horizontally. The bill colour and angle distinguish this species from the similar yellow-billed loon.
Distribution and habitat
The great northern loon breeds in North America, Greenland, Iceland, and Great Britain. This species winters on sea coasts or on large lakes of south Europe and North America, and south to north-western areas of Africa.
Behaviour
This species, like all divers, is a specialist fish-eater, catching its prey underwater, diving as deep as 60 m (200 ft). and can remain underwater for as long as 3 minutes. Freshwater diets consist of pike, perch, sunfish, trout, and bass; salt-water diets consist of rock fish, flounder, sea trout, and herring. The bird needs a long distance to gain momentum for take-off, and is ungainly on landing. Its clumsiness on land is due to the legs being positioned at the rear of the body: this is ideal for diving but not well-suited for walking. When the birds land on water, they skim along on their bellies to slow down, rather than on their feet, as these are set too far back. The loon swims gracefully on the surface, dives as well as any flying bird, and flies competently for hundreds of kilometres in migration. It flies with its neck outstretched, usually calling a particular tremolo that can be used to identify a flying loon. Its flying speed is as much as 120 km/h (75 mph) during migration. Its call has been alternately called "haunting", "beautiful", "thrilling", "mystical", and "enchanting".
Great northern loon nests are usually placed on islands, where ground-based predators cannot normally access them. However, eggs and nestlings have been taken by gulls, corvids, raccoons, skunks, minks, foxes, snapping turtles, and large fish. Adults are not regularly preyed upon, but have been taken by sea otters (when wintering) and bald eagles. Ospreys have been observed harassing divers, more likely out of kleptoparasitism than predation. When approached by a predator of either its nest or itself, divers sometimes attack the predator by rushing at it and attempting to impale it through the abdomen or the back of the head or neck.
Canadian 20 Dollar Bills
Canadian 20 Dollar Bill 2004 Queen Elizabeth II Canadian 20 Dollar Bill 1991 Queen Elizabeth II