The Siberian accentor (Prunella montanella) is a small passerine bird
that breeds in northern Russia from the Ural Mountains eastwards across
Siberia. It is migratory, wintering in Korea and eastern China.
Typically breeding in subarctic deciduous forests and open coniferous
woodland, often near water, it is also found in bushes and shrubs in
winter, frequently near streams. It has brown upperparts and wings, with
bright chestnut streaking on its back and a greyish-brown rump and tail.
The head has a dark brown crown and a long pale yellow "eyebrow". All
plumages are similar. The nest is an open cup into which the female lays
four to six eggs that hatch in about ten days. Adults and chicks feed
mainly on insects, typically picked off the ground, and may also eat
seeds in winter. Breeding over a huge area, this accentor has a large
and apparently stable population. October and November 2016 saw an
unprecedented influx of this species into western Europe as far west as
the UK.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_accentor>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Ming general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Emperor
Yingzong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_Cao_Qin>
1909:
Fifty-nine days after leaving New York City with three
passengers, Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco to become the
first woman to drive an automobile across the contiguous United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Huyler_Ramsey>
1914:
World War I: France launched its first attack of the war in an
ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the province of Alsace from
Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mulhouse>
1944:
IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator to
Harvard University, after which it became known as the Mark I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
calabash:
1. A tree (known as the calabash tree; Crescentia cujete) native to
Central and South America, the West Indies, and southern Florida,
bearing large, round fruit used to make containers (sense 3); the fruit
of this tree.
2. The bottle gourd (calabash vine, Lagenaria siceraria), a vine
believed to have originated in Africa, which is grown for its fruit that
are used as a vegetable and to make containers (sense 3); the fruit of
this plant.
3. A container made from the mature, dried shell of the fruit of one of
the above plants; also, a similarly shaped container made from some
other material.
4. A calabash and its contents; as much as fills such a container.
5. (music) A musical instrument, most commonly a drum or rattle, made
from a calabash fruit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calabash>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It’s important … to know who the real enemy is, and to know
the function, the very serious function of racism, which is distraction.
It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over
again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so
you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t
shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is.
Somebody says that you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says
that you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is
necessary. There will always be one more thing.
--Toni Morrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison>