The Zapata rail (Cyanolimnas cerverai) is a medium-sized, dark-coloured rail. It has brown upperparts, greyish-blue underparts, a red-based yellow bill, white undertail coverts, and red eyes and legs. Its short wings render it almost flightless. It is endemic to the wetlands of the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found in sawgrass tussocks. Little is known of its diet or reproductive behaviour, and its described calls may belong to a different species. The Zapata rail was discovered by Spanish zoologist Fermín Zanón Cervera in March 1927 in the Zapata Swamp near Santo Tomás, in the southern Matanzas Province of Cuba. The swamp holds one other bird found nowhere else, the Zapata wren, and also gives its name to the Zapata sparrow. Due to ongoing habitat loss in its limited range, its small population size, and predation by introduced mammals and catfish, the Zapata rail is evaluated as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species. The swamp is listed as an internationally important wetland by the Convention on Wetlands.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapata_rail
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1311:
The peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England imposed the Ordinances of 1311 to restrict King Edward II's powers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinances_of_1311
1614:
A group of merchants led by Adriaen Block presented a petition to the States General of the Netherlands to receive exclusive trading privileges for the New Netherland colony. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaen_Block
1797:
French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captured eleven Dutch Navy ships without any losses in the Battle of Camperdown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Camperdown
1941:
Armed insurgents from the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia attacked Axis-occupied zones in the city of Prilep, beginning the National Liberation War of Macedonia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_in_Yugoslav_Macedonia
1968:
Apollo 7 (lift-off pictured), the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nikon choir: (chiefly Britain, idiomatic) A large group of photographers simultaneously capturing images of a celebrity, producing numerous photographic flashes along with an accompanying din of clicking camera shutters. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nikon_choir
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We face the future fortified with the lessons we have learned from the past. It is today that we must create the world of the future. --Eleanor Roosevelt https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt