The fulvous whistling duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) is a tropical and subtropical bird in the family of ducks, geese and swans. It breeds in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern US, sub- Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. It has mainly reddish brown plumage, long legs and a long grey bill, and shows a distinctive white band across its black tail in flight. Like other members of its ancient lineage, it has a whistling call. The preferred habitat is shallow lakes, paddy fields or other wetlands with plentiful vegetation. The nest, placed among dense vegetation or in a tree hole, typically holds around ten whitish eggs, which hatch in 24–29 days. The downy grey ducklings leave the nest within a day or so of hatching, but the parents continue to protect them until they fledge around nine weeks later. The fulvous whistling duck feeds in wetlands by day or night on seeds and other parts of plants. It has a huge range and is not threatened, despite hunting, poisoning by pesticides and natural predation by mammals, birds and reptiles.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulvous_whistling_duck
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
590:
Byzantine emperor Maurice proclaimed his son Theodosius as his co-emperor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_(son_of_Maurice)
1351:
War of the Breton Succession: Thirty knights each from France and England fought to determine who would rule the Duchy of Brittany, which later was celebrated as a noble display of the ideals of chivalry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_of_the_Thirty
1885:
Feeling that Canada had failed to address the protection of their rights, the Métis people, led by Louis Riel, began the North-West Rebellion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Rebellion
1953:
Jonas Salk announced the successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children (vaccination pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio_vaccine
1971:
East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan to become Bangladesh, starting the Bangladesh Liberation War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
sarpanch: The elected head of a panchayat (village government) in Bangladesh, India, or Pakistan. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sarpanch
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I may have wept that any should have died Or missed their chance, or not have been their best, Or been their riches, fame, or love denied; On me as much as any is the jest. I take my incompleteness with the rest. God bless himself can no one else be blessed. I hold your doctrine of Memento Mori. And were an epitaph to be my story I’d have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover’s quarrel with the world. --Robert Frost https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
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