The garden warbler (Sylvia borin) is a common small bird that breeds in
most of Europe and in western Asia. It is a plain, long-winged and long-
tailed typical warbler with brown upperparts and dull white underparts;
the sexes are similar and juveniles resemble the adults. The garden
warbler's rich melodic song is similar to that of the blackcap, its
closest relative, which competes with it for territory when nesting in
the same woodland. The preferred breeding habitat in Eurasia is open
woodland with dense low cover for nesting; despite its name, gardens are
rarely occupied by this small passerine bird. The clutch of four or five
blotched cream or white eggs is laid in a robust cup-shaped nest built
near the ground and concealed by dense vegetation. The chicks fledge
about 10 days after hatching, and only about a quarter of young birds
survive their first year. The species winters in sub-Saharan Africa.
Insects are the main food in the breeding season, although fruit
predominates when birds are fattening prior to migration, figs being a
particular favourite where available. Predators include Eurasian
sparrowhawks and domestic cats. Despite a small population decline in
much of its European range, the bird's breeding distribution is
expanding northwards in Scandinavia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_warbler>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
896:
Emperor Zhaozong appointed Li Keyong as the Prince of Jin, who
began his reign as first emperor of Jin following the collapse of the
Tang Dynasty in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Keyong>
1815:
War of 1812: British troops captured Fort Peter in St. Marys,
Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Peter>
1898:
"J'accuse...!", an open letter by French writer Émile Zola to
President Félix Faure of the French Republic, was published by the
Parisian newspaper L'Aurore, accusing the highest levels of the French
Army in covering up the truth of the Dreyfus affair.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%27accuse>
1915:
About 30,000 people in Avezzano, Italy—96% of its
population—were killed when an earthquake struck the region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1915_Avezzano_earthquake>
1953:
An article published in Pravda accused some of the most
prestigious physicians in the Soviet Union, mostly Jews, of taking part
in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and
military leadership.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_plot>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gherao:
(India) A protest in which a group of people surrounds a politician,
building, etc. until demands are met.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gherao>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge and understanding are quite different. Only
understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a passing
presence in it.
--G. I. Gurdjieff
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._I._Gurdjieff>