The turquoise parrot (Neophema pulchella) is native to Eastern Australia, from southeastern Queensland through New South Wales and into northeastern Victoria. Described by George Shaw in 1792, it is a small lightly-built parrot at around 20 cm (8 in) long and 40 g (1 1⁄2 oz) in weight. The sexes are dimorphic: females are generally duller and paler than males, with a pale green breast and yellow belly. Males (apart from some colour-variant subspecies) are predominantly green, with yellowish underparts, a bright turquoise blue face, predominantly blue wings, and red shoulders. Found in grasslands and open woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus and Callitris species, the bird feeds mainly on grasses and seeds and occasionally flowers, fruit and scale insects. It nests in hollows of gum trees. Much of its habitat has been altered, destroying potential nesting sites. Predominantly sedentary, the species can be locally nomadic. Populations appear to be recovering from a crash in the early 20th century. The turquoise parrot has been kept in captivity since the 19th century.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_parrot

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

30 BC:

Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, committed suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra

1323:

Sweden and the Novgorod Republic signed the Treaty of Nöteborg to temporarily end the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_N%C3%B6teborg

1877:

American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon)

1953:

The first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, Joe 4, was detonated at Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_4

1981:

The IBM Personal Computer, the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bumfluff: (Australia, Britain, New Zealand, derogatory) The first, sparse beard growth of an adolescent. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bumfluff

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.   --Erwin Schrödinger https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger