The Mascarene martin is a passerine bird in the swallow family that breeds in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. The nominate subspecies occurs on Mauritius and Réunion and has never been found away from the Mascarene Islands, but a smaller Madagascan subspecies is migratory and has been recorded wintering in East Africa or wandering to other Indian Ocean islands. The Mascarene martin is small with grey-brown underparts becoming white on the throat and lower abdomen, dark grey-brown upperparts and a slightly forked tail. The underparts are heavily streaked with black. It nests in small colonies anywhere with suitably sheltered sites for constructing a nest. It has a heavy flight with slow wingbeats interspersed with glides, and frequently perches on wires. It feeds on insects in flight, often hunting low over the ground or vegetation. A number of internal and external parasites have been detected in this species. Tropical cyclones can adversely affect populations on the smaller islands, but the Mascarene martin is a locally common bird with an apparently stable population and is classed as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

404:

Aelia Eudoxia, empress consort of Byzantine emperor Arcadius, died from complications of childbirth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelia_Eudoxia

1777:

American Revolutionary War: British forces under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton captured Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, and then dismantled the Hudson River Chain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Forts_Clinton_and_Montgomery

1908:

Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, causing a crisis that permanently damaged their relations with Russia and the Kingdom of Serbia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_crisis

1927:

The first successful feature sound film The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, was released. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer

1976:

A violent crackdown by Thai military and police units on students and protestors on the grounds of Thammasat University and at Sanam Luang in Bangkok led to 46 deaths, and a military coup against the government of Prime Minister Seni Pramoj. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thammasat_University_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

wizened: Withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wizened

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.   --David Brin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin