breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to
Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, the
Falkland Islands, Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It has
several subspecies across its large range; a few of the Asian subspecies
are sometimes considered to be full species. Depending on latitude, the
common blackbird may be resident, partially migratory, or fully
migratory. The male of the nominate subspecies, which is found
throughout most of Europe, is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and
bill and has a rich, melodious song; the adult female and juvenile have
mainly dark brown plumage. The species breeds in woods and gardens,
building a neat, mud-lined, cup-shaped nest. It is omnivorous, eating a
wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits. This common and
conspicuous bird has given rise to many literary and cultural
references, frequently related to its song.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_blackbird>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1740:
A two-week massacre of ethnic Chinese in Batavia, Dutch East
Indies, came to an end with at least 10,000 people killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1740_Batavia_massacre>
1884:
The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, was adopted as
Universal Time meridian of longitude.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time>
1895:
At Gare Montparnasse station in Paris, an express train
derailed after overrunning the buffer stop, crossing the concourse
before crashing through a wall and falling to the plaza below
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montparnasse_derailment>
1962:
Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced that Soviet
nuclear weapons had been discovered in Cuba and that he had ordered a
naval "quarantine" of the island nation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis>
2013:
The Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 made the Australian
Capital Territory the nation's first jurisdiction to legalise same-sex
marriage, although the High Court struck the act down two months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_Equality_(Same_Sex)_Act_2013>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
allometry:
(biology) The science studying the differential growth rates of the
parts of a living organism's body part or process.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allometry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more
stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always
known.
--Doris Lessing
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing>
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