The pale crag martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) is a bird in the swallow
family that is resident in northern Africa and in southwestern Asia. It
breeds in mountains, other rocky areas and towns. It is 12–13 cm
(4.5–5 in) long, with mainly brown plumage, and paler below, with
white "windows" on the tail that show as it hunts along cliffs for
flying insects. It builds a deep bowl or quarter-sphere nest on a flat
surface, vertical rock face or wall, made with mud and lined with grass
or feathers. It is normally a solitary breeder, but small groups may
sometimes nest close together. The two or three eggs of a typical clutch
are white with brown and grey blotches, and are incubated by both adults
for 16–19 days prior to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks.
Fledging takes another 22–24 days. With a large range and apparently
increasing population, this species faces no major threats. It is
assessed as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List. (This article
is part of a featured topic: Crag martins.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Crag_martins>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Public-transportation workers in Indianapolis went on strike,
shutting down mass transit in the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_streetcar_strike_of_1913>
1917:
World War I: Allied forces defeated Turkish troops in Beersheba
in Southern Palestine at the Battle of Beersheba, with the battle
involving one of the last successful cavalry charges.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Beersheba_%281917%29>
1973:
Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from
Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in
the prison's exercise yard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape>
2005:
The discovery of the Plutonian moons Nix and Hydra, based on
photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope nearly five months
prior, was announced.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28moon%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
devilment:
1. (uncountable) Devilish action or conduct; wickedness; (more
generally) troublemaking behaviour; mischief; (countable) an instance of
this.
2. (countable)
3. A devilish, mischievous, or reckless nature; mischievousness.
4. Something considered cruel or evil; also, something which causes
distress or suffering.
5. Something cleverly constructed.
6. (often humorous) A dish which is devilled (“made piquant or spicy”);
a devil; also, the elements of the dish which make it spicy, or the
piquancy or spiciness of the dish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devilment>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed.
--Natalie Clifford Barney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Natalie_Clifford_Barney>
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