The turquoise parrot (Neophema pulchella) is native to Eastern
Australia, from southeastern Queensland through New South Wales and into
northeastern Victoria. Described by George Shaw in 1792, it is a small
lightly-built parrot at around 20 cm (8 in) long and 40 g
(1 1⁄2 oz) in weight. The sexes are dimorphic: females are generally
duller and paler than males, with a pale green breast and yellow belly.
Males (apart from some colour-variant subspecies) are predominantly
green, with yellowish underparts, a bright turquoise blue face,
predominantly blue wings, and red shoulders. Found in grasslands and
open woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus and Callitris species, the bird
feeds mainly on grasses and seeds and occasionally flowers, fruit and
scale insects. It nests in hollows of gum trees. Much of its habitat has
been altered, destroying potential nesting sites. Predominantly
sedentary, the species can be locally nomadic. Populations appear to be
recovering from a crash in the early 20th century. The turquoise parrot
has been kept in captivity since the 19th century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_parrot>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
30 BC:
Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty,
committed suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra>
1323:
Sweden and the Novgorod Republic signed the Treaty of Nöteborg
to temporarily end the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_N%C3%B6teborg>
1877:
American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller
of the two moons of Mars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon)>
1953:
The first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, Joe 4, was detonated at
Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_4>
1981:
The IBM Personal Computer, the original version and progenitor
of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bumfluff:
(Australia, Britain, New Zealand, derogatory) The first, sparse beard
growth of an adolescent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bumfluff>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to
think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.
--Erwin Schrödinger
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger>