The Water Rail is a bird of the rail family found across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this species is a permanent resident in the warmer parts of its breeding range. It breeds in reed beds and other marshy sites with tall, dense vegetation, building its nest a little above the water level from whatever plants are available nearby. The adult is 23–28 cm (9–11 in) long, and, like other rails, has a body that is flattened laterally to allow it easier passage through reed beds. It has mainly brown upperparts and blue-grey underparts, black barring on the flanks, long toes, a short tail and a long reddish bill. The off-white, blotched eggs are incubated mainly by the female, and the precocial downy chicks hatch in 19–22 days. Water Rails are omnivorous, although they feed mainly on animals. They are territorial even after breeding, and will aggressively defend feeding areas in winter. These rails are vulnerable to flooding or freezing conditions, loss of habitat and predation by mammals (such as the American mink) and large birds, but overall the species' huge range and large numbers mean that it is not considered to be threatened.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1202:

The first major action of the Fourth Crusade and the first attack against a Catholic city by Catholic crusaders, the Siege of Zara, began in Zadar, Croatia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Zara

1766:

William Franklin, the last Royal Governor of New Jersey, signed the charter establishing Queen's College, now known as Rutgers University. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutgers_University

1871:

Journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley located missing missionary and explorer David Livingstone (both pictured, left and right respectively) in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Livingstone

1969:

The first episode of the children's television series Sesame Street premiered on public broadcasting television stations in the United States, to adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street

2007:

At the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile, King Juan Carlos I of Spain asked President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez "Why don't you shut up?" after Chávez repeatedly interrupted a speech by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%BFPor_qu%C3%A9_no_te_callas%3F

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

xoanon: (historical) A wooden statue, used as a cult image in Ancient Greece. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xoanon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Dare to be wise! Energy and spirit is needed to overcome the obstacles which indolence of nature as well as cowardice of heart oppose to our instruction. It is not without significance that the old myth makes the goddess of Wisdom emerge fully armed from the head of Jupiter; for her very first function is warlike. Even in her birth she has to maintain a hard struggle with the senses, which do not want to be dragged from their sweet repose. The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error. Content if they themselves escape the hard labor of thought, men gladly resign to others the guardianship of their ideas, and if it happens that higher needs are stirred in them, they embrace with a eager faith the formulas which State and priesthood hold in readiness for such an occasion.   --Friedrich Schiller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller