The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is a large
cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia. It has a short crest on
its head, its plumage is mostly brownish-black, and it has yellow cheek
patches and a yellow tail band. The male has a black beak and pink eye-
rings and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. The
cockatoos flap deeply and slowly in flight, and their loud wailing calls
carry for long distances. They are found in forests from eastern
Queensland to southeastern South Australia. Two subspecies are
recognised, although Tasmanian and southern mainland populations may be
a third. The cockatoos feed on wood-boring grubs and seeds. They nest in
hollows in large trees, and although they remain common throughout much
of their range, habitat fragmentation and loss of suitable trees has
caused local population declines. In some urban areas the cockatoos have
adapted to humans. This species is listed by CITES, an international
protection agreement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-tailed_black_cockatoo>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1809:
Napoleon's French forces defeated Archduke Charles' Austrian
army at the Battle of Wagram, the decisive confrontation of the War of
the Fifth Coalition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram>
1919:
The Royal Air Force's R34 airship landed in Mineola, New York,
to complete the first east-to-west transatlantic crossing by an
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R33-class_airship>
1989:
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member carried out a suicide attack
by hijacking a bus and forcing it into a ravine near Kiryat Ye'arim,
Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv%E2%80%93Jerusalem_bus_405_suicide_attack>
2009:
Jadranka Kosor became the first female prime minister of
Croatia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadranka_Kosor>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ensorcell:
1. (transitive) To bewitch or enchant.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To captivate, entrance, fascinate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ensorcell>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Down through the years, African Americans have upheld the ideals
of America by exposing laws and habits contradicting those ideals. …
At every turn, the struggle for equality was resisted by many of the
powerful. And some have said we should not judge their failures by the
standards of a later time, yet in every time there were men and women
who clearly saw this sin and called it by name. We can fairly judge the
past by the standards of President John Adams, who called slavery "an
evil of colossal magnitude". We can discern eternal standards in the
deeds of William Wilberforce and John Quincy Adams and Harriet Beecher
Stowe and Abraham Lincoln. These men and women, black and white, burned
with a zeal for freedom and they left behind a different and better
nation. Their moral vision caused Americans to examine our hearts, to
correct our Constitution and to teach our children the dignity and
equality of every person of every race. … My Nation's journey toward
justice has not been easy, and it is not over. The racial bigotry fed by
slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the
issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of
other times. But however long the journey, our destination is set:
liberty and justice for all.
--George W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush>