The European rock pipit (Anthus petrosus) is a small species of songbird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish- brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. There are three subspecies, of which only the Fennoscandian form is migratory, wintering in shoreline habitats further south in Europe and northwest Africa. The rock pipit is territorial at least in the breeding season, and remains so year-round where it is resident. Males will sometimes enter an adjacent territory to assist the resident in repelling an intruder, behaviour only otherwise known from an African fiddler crab. Rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks. The pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water, and occasionally catch insects in flight. The bird's population is large and stable.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1821:

Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San Martín declared the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn

1917:

In New York City, the NAACP and church and community leaders organized a silent march (newsreel footage featured) of at least 8,000 people to protest violence directed towards African Americans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Parade

1976:

An earthquake registering 7.6 Mw, one of the deadliest in history, devastated Tangshan, China, and killed at least 240,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquake

2001:

At the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Australian Ian Thorpe became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single FINA world championship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Thorpe

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

urbane: 1. Of a person (usually a man): having refined manners; courteous, polite, suave. 2. Of an act, expression, etc.: suited to a person of refined manners; elegant, sophisticated. 3. Obsolete spelling of urban (“of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a city or town, or life in such a place; living in a city or town; having authority or jurisdiction over a city or town”) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/urbane

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Not only do I hate violence, but I firmly believe that the fight against it is not hopeless. I realize that the task is difficult. I realize that, only too often in the course of history, it has happened that what appeared at first to be a great success in the fight against violence was followed by a defeat. I do not overlook the fact that the new age of violence which was opened by the two World wars is by no means at an end. Nazism and Fascism are thoroughly beaten, but I must admit that their defeat does not mean that barbarism and brutality have been defeated. On the contrary, it is no use closing our eyes to the fact that these hateful ideas achieved something like a victory in defeat. I have to admit that Hitler succeeded in degrading the moral standards of our Western world, and that in the world of today there is more violence and brutal force than would have been tolerated even in the decade after the first World war. And we must face the possibility that our civilization may ultimately be destroyed by those new weapons which Hitlerism wished upon us, perhaps even within the first decade after the second World war; for no doubt the spirit of Hitlerism won its greatest victory over us when, after its defeat, we used the weapons which the threat of Nazism had induced us to develop.   --Karl Popper https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper