The European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) is a small, square-
tailed seabird with a fluttering flight. It is black except for a white
rump and a white band under its wings. Most birds breed on islands off
western Europe, with a separate subspecies occurring in the
Mediterranean. The storm petrel lays a single white egg in a burrow. The
adults share incubation and feeding the chick. This bird is oceanic
outside the breeding season, wintering off the western coasts of Africa.
It feeds on small fish, and can find oily edible items by smell. The
chick is fed with an oily liquid regurgitated by the adults. Silent at
sea, the storm petrel has a chattering call given during courtship, and
the male has a purring song. The storm petrel cannot survive where rats
or cats have been introduced, and it is killed by large birds such as
gulls. It is classified by the IUCN as being of least concern. Folklore
claiming that the bird can foretell or cause bad weather has led to its
use as a symbol by some revolutionary groups.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_storm_petrel>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1950:
Blanca Canales led the Jayuya Uprising against the
U.S.-supported Puerto Rican government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayuya_Uprising>
1960:
Michael Woodruff performed the first successful kidney
transplant in the United Kingdom at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woodruff>
1993:
The Troubles: Three members of the Ulster Defence Association
opened fire in a crowded pub during a Halloween party, killing eight
people and wounding nineteen others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greysteel_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
escarole:
(Canada, US) A subspecies or variety of broad-leaved endive (Cichorium
endivia subsp. endivia, syn. Cichorium endivia var. latifolium), which
is eaten as a vegetable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escarole>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will
never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience,
than the consent of governors and governed.
--John Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams>