The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is a typical warbler in
Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It has grey upperparts and
paler grey underparts, and the male has a black cap, while the female's
is reddish-brown. The male's song is a rich musical warbling. The
blackcap builds a neat cup nest in scrub, often in mature deciduous
woodland. The female lays four to six buff eggs, which hatch in about
11 days. The chicks fledge in 11–12 days, but are fed by both adults
for some time after. Birds from the colder areas of the range migrate,
wintering in scrub in western Europe, around the Mediterranean and in
Africa. Some German birds winter in gardens in the British Isles.
Blackcaps eat insects when breeding, but otherwise survive primarily on
small fruit; garden birds also eat bread, fat and peanuts in winter. The
blackcap's range has been expanding, even though it is hunted in some
countries. Its rich song has been featured in literature, films and
music.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_blackcap>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1835:
Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales in
Mexican Texas encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia at the
Battle of Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales>
1937:
President Rafael Trujillo announced that Dominican troops had
begun mass killings of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley_massacre>
1971:
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was re-elected unopposed as President of
South Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_Thi%E1%BB%87u>
1996:
A maintenance worker's failure to remove tape covering the
aircraft's static ports caused Aeroperú Flight 603 to crash into the
ocean near Lima, Peru, killing all 70 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroper%C3%BA_Flight_603>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Chanakya:
(India) A shrewd politician or, in general, a cunning person; a
Machiavelli.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Chanakya>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
People don't like reality, they don't like common sense, until
age forces it on them.
--Graham Greene
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Graham_Greene>
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