Meliphagidae and is common in northern and eastern Australia and
southern New Guinea. A large honeyeater at around 29.5 cm (11.6 in) in
length, it has distinctive plumage, with olive upperparts, white
underparts and a black head and throat with white nape and cheeks. Males
and females are similar in external appearance. Adults have a blue area
of bare skin on each side of the face readily distinguishing them from
juveniles, which have yellow or green patches of bare skin. Found in
open woodland, parks, and gardens, it appears to be sedentary in parts
of its range and locally nomadic in other parts; however, the species
has been little studied since it was first described by the
ornithologist John Latham in 1802. Its diet is mostly composed of
invertebrates, supplemented with nectar and fruit. Its propensity for
feeding on the flowers and fruit of bananas in north Queensland has
given it the common name of "Bananabird". Blue-faced Honeyeaters often
take over and renovate old babbler nests, in which the female lays and
incubates two or rarely three eggs. Three subspecies are recognised.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-faced_Honeyeater>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1529:
The Siege of Vienna ended as the Austrians repelled the
invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked
conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vienna>
1764:
English historian Edward Gibbon observed friars singing Vespers
at Capitoline Hill in Rome, inspiring him to write The History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon>
1970:
Thirty-five construction workers were killed when a section of
the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapsed due to structural failure.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Gate_Bridge>
1997:
On the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, the first supersonic land
speed record was set by Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green in the jet-
propelled car ThrustSSC when it achieved a speed of 1,228 km/h (763
mph).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThrustSSC>
2003:
Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space
mission, was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
allomother:
A human or other animal that provides some maternal care for the young
born by another.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allomother>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Facilis descensus Averni: noctes atque dies patet atri ianua
Ditis; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras. hoc opus, hic
labor est. The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent,
and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this
the task and mighty labor lies. with translation by
--John Dryden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dryden>
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