The red-tailed tropicbird is a seabird native to the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird, it has four subspecies. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has almost all-white plumage with a black mask and a red bill. The sexes have similar plumage. Adults have red tail streamers that are about twice their body length, which gives rise to its common name. Nesting takes place in loose colonies on oceanic islands, the nest itself a scrape found on a cliff face, in a crevice, or a sandy beach. A single egg is laid, being incubated by both sexes for about six weeks. The red- tailed tropicbird eats fish, mainly flying fish, and squid, catching them by plunge-diving into the ocean. This bird is considered to be a least-concern species according to the IUCN, though it is adversely affected by human contact. Rats and feral cats prey on eggs and young at nesting sites.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_tropicbird

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1911:

Sun Yat-sen was elected the provisional president of the Republic of China in Nanjing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen

1940:

The Blitz: The Luftwaffe conducted a major night bombing raid on the British capital, beginning what was later called the "Second Great Fire of London". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Fire_of_London

1959:

Physicist Richard Feynman gave a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" at Caltech, anticipating the field of nanotechnology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_Plenty_of_Room_at_the_Bottom

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

succour: 1. (transitive) To give aid, assistance, or help. 2. (transitive, military) To provide aid or assistance in the form of military equipment and soldiers; in particular, for helping a place under siege. 3. (transitive, obsolete except dialectal) To protect, to shelter; to provide a refuge. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/succour

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Every child, at birth, is the Universal Man. But, as it grows, we turn it into "a petty man." It should be the function of education to turn it again into the original "Universal Man." The child which by birth was the universal man is fettered by us with such constraints as country, language, religion, caste, race and colour. To free it from all these limitations and transform it into "the enlightened soul", that is to say, the universal man, — this should become the first and foremost function of our education, culture, civilization, and what not.   --Kuvempu https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kuvempu