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Today's featured article
The russet sparrow is a passerine bird in the sparrow family Passeridae, distributed in eastern Asia. A chunky little seed-eating bird with a thick bill, it has a body length of 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in). Its plumage is mainly warm rufous above and grey below. It exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the plumage of both sexes patterned similarly to that of the corresponding sex of the house sparrow. Its vocalisations are sweet and musical chirps, which when strung together form a song. The russet sparrow is known well enough in the Himalayas to have a distinct name in some languages, and is depicted in Japanese art. It feeds mainly on the seeds of herbs and grains, but it also eats berries and insects, particularly during the breeding season. This diet makes it a minor pest in agricultural areas, but also a predator of insect pests. It is a social bird within its own species, but disperses to breed. The typical clutch has five or six whitish eggs. Both sexes incubate and feed the young. (Full article...) Recently featured: Emmy Noether The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished Pseudastacus Archive By email More featured articles About
Did you know...
HNLMS De Ruyter ... that the shipwreck of HNLMS De Ruyter (pictured) went missing, leaving only an imprint on the ocean floor? ... that NFL player Dustin McDonald was later a labor leader who led strikes and was jailed for fighting the police? ... that the death of a pregnant woman in a video game was written to be even darker on television? ... that Joe Eddins helped conservative Oklahoma enact universal preschool? ... that Olive Garden and Chili's got in a ship war over Destiel? ... that William F. J. Ryan designed more than 1,000 coats of arms for bishops, dioceses, and institutions? ... that the cover art for Jane Remover's debut album is a screenshot taken from Google Maps? ... that the "Tiger-Rider" is said to have miraculously flooded his village with alcohol? ... that "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" contains 261 "Na"s in total? Archive Start a new article Nominate an article
Tomorrow's featured article
Ian Carmichael (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who had a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon Hull, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but his studies—and the early stages of his career—were curtailed by the Second World War. After initial success in revue and sketch productions, he was cast by the film producers John and Roy Boulting to star in a series of satires, starting with Private's Progress in 1956 through to I'm All Right Jack in 1959. In the mid-1960s he played Bertie Wooster for BBC Television for which he received positive reviews, including from P. G. Wodehouse, the writer who created the character of Wooster. In the early 1970s he played another upper-class literary character, Lord Peter Wimsey, the amateur but talented investigator created by Dorothy L. Sayers. Carmichael was often typecast as an affable but bumbling upper-class innocent, but he retained a disciplined approach to training and rehearsing. (Full article...) Recently featured: Russet sparrow Emmy Noether The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished

In the news
Melissa Hortman In the US state of Minnesota, state representative Melissa Hortman (pictured) is assassinated and state senator John Hoffman is injured. Israel launches multiple airstrikes across cities in Iran, killing various nuclear scientists and military officials, including IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami. Air India Flight 171 crashes in Ahmedabad, India, killing 279 people. The Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at the age of 82. Ongoing: Gaza war Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline Sudanese civil war timeline Recent deaths: Sly Stone Mohammad Bagheri Fereydoon Abbasi Stu Wilson Vladyslav Gorai Günther Uecker Nominate an article
On this day...
June 17 Mumtaz Mahal 1579 – Explorer Francis Drake landed in a region of present-day California, naming it New Albion and claiming it for England. 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal (pictured), wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, died in childbirth; Jahan spent the next seventeen years constructing her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. 1919 – Hundreds of Canadian soldiers rioted in Epsom, England, leading to the death of a British police officer. 1952 – Guatemalan Revolution: The Guatemalan Congress passed Decree 900, redistributing unused land greater than 224 acres (0.91 km²) in area to local peasants. M. C. Escher (b. 1898) Richard Gagnon (b. 1948) Amari Cooper (b. 1994) Mohamed Morsi (d. 2019) More anniversaries: June 16 June 17 June 18 Archive By email List of days of the year About
Tomorrow...
June 18: Autistic Pride Day Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon 1898 – The Cadaver Tomb of René of Chalon (pictured) in Bar-le-Duc, France, was designated a monument historique. 1958 – English composer Benjamin Britten's one-act opera Noye's Fludde was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival. 1981 – The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology, made its maiden flight. 1994 – The Troubles: Ulster Volunteer Force members attacked a crowded bar in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, with assault rifles, killing six people. 2022 – A disputed party massacres over 500 Amhara civilians in Gimbi, Ethiopia. Rogier van der Weyden (d. 1464) Ambrose Philips (d. 1749) Lou Brock (b. 1939) Stephanie Kwolek (d. 2014) More anniversaries: June 17 June 18 June 19 Archive By email List of days of the year About

Today's featured picture

Igor Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor, considered to be one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. He studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov until the latter's death in 1908. Soon after, Stravinsky met the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned the composer to write three ballets for Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913), the last of which caused a near-riot at its premiere in Paris. His compositional style varied greatly, being influenced at different times by Russian folklore, neoclassicism, and serialism. His ideas influenced Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Béla Bartók, and Pierre Boulez, who were all challenged to innovate beyond traditional tonality, rhythm, and form. This photograph of Stravinsky in the early 1920s is from the collection of the American photojournalist George Grantham Bain.

Photograph credit: Bain News Service; restored by MyCatIsAChonk

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Tomorrow's featured picture

The Garni Temple is a classical colonnaded structure in the village of Garni, in central Armenia, around 30 km (19 mi) east of Yerevan. Built in the Ionic order, it is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia. It has been described as the "easternmost building of the Greco-Roman world" and the only largely preserved Hellenistic building in the former Soviet Union. It is conventionally identified as a pagan temple built by King Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mihr (Mithra). It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake, but much of its fragments remained on the site. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to excavations in the early and mid-20th century. It was reconstructed in 1969–75, using the anastylosis technique. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Hetanism (Armenian neopaganism). This aerial photograph shows the Garni Temple in the winter.

Photograph credit: Yerevantsi

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