Markham's storm petrel (Hydrobates markhami) is a seabird native to the Pacific Ocean around Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. It is a large and slender storm petrel; its plumage is black to sooty brown with a grayish bar that runs diagonally across the upper side of the wings. A colonial breeder, the species nests in natural cavities in salt crusts in northern Chile and Peru; 95 percent of the known colonies are found in the Atacama Desert. Pairs produce one egg per season, which is laid on bare ground without any nesting material. Parents will attend their brood only at night, returning to the sea before dawn. The diet of Markham's storm petrel consists mainly of fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. Despite its relatively large population, the species is in decline and listed as near threatened. Primary threats are habitat destruction and light pollution, which attracts or disorients fledglings on their first flight to the sea.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markham%27s_storm_petrel

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1934:

Catalonia's autonomous government, led by Lluís Companys, declared a general strike, an armed insurgency, and the establishment of the Catalan State in reaction to the inclusion of conservatives in the Spanish republican regime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_of_6_October

1976:

Two bombs placed by the CIA-linked Cuban dissident group Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations exploded on Cubana Flight 455, killing all 73 aboard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordination_of_United_Revolutionary_Organizations

1989:

About 200 members of the San Francisco Police Department instigated a police riot in the Castro following a peaceful protest held by the political group ACT UP. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_Sweep

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

weaksauce: 1. (originally and chiefly US, informal) Lacking in interest or substance; boring, disappointing, lacklustre. 2. (countable) Someone or something that is lacking in interest or substance. 3. (uncountable) 4. The quality or state of lacking in interest or substance; boringness, disappointment. 5. Synonym of weak tea (“weak or feeble arguments, efforts, or proposals”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/weaksauce

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and tangible within us without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage and the metaphysician.   --Le Corbusier https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier