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Today's featured article

Adult and juvenile Laysan honeycreepers

The Laysan honeycreeper (Himatione fraithii) is an extinct species of finch, first recorded in 1828, that was endemic to Laysan in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its length was 13–15 cm (5–6 in) with a 64–69 mm long (2.5–2.7 in) wing. It was bright scarlet vermilion with a faint tint of golden orange on the head, breast and upper abdomen; the rest of its upper parts were orange scarlet. The lower abdomen was dusky gray fading into brownish white. The wings, tail, bill, and legs were dark brown. The bill was slender and downturned. It was nectarivorous and insectivorous, gathering nectar and insects from flowers. The breeding season was probably between January and June, and the clutch size was four or five eggs. In 1903, domestic rabbits were introduced to the island and destroyed its vegetation. In April 1923, only three Laysan honeycreepers were found, one of which was filmed. On April 23, a sandstorm hit the island, and the last birds perished due to lack of cover. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

September 3

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

36 BC – The Sicilian revolt against the Second Triumvirate of the Roman Republic ended when the fleet of Sextus Pompey, the rebel leader, was defeated at the Battle of Naulochus.
1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria was concluded between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman prince Musa Çelebi.
1901 – At the Royal Exhibition Building (pictured) in Melbourne, the flag of Australia flew for the first time.
1987 – While he was abroad, Burundian president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza was deposed in a military coup d'état by Pierre Buyoya.
2017 – North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test at Punggye-ri, causing a magnitude-6.3 earthquake.

Umar al-Aqta (d. 863)
Ana Monterroso de Lavalleja (b. 1791)
Sarah Orne Jewett (b. 1849)
Ferdinand Rudow (d. 1920)

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In the news

Iran's flag bearers at the Paralympics

The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Paris, France.
More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma wins the Tour de France Femmes.

Did you know...

The Hooded Man

... that The Hooded Man (pictured) is an iconic photograph of the Iraq War, known as a symbol of torture at Abu Ghraib prison?
... that Asiatyrannus is thought to have grown to less than half the size of other tyrannosaurs?
... that the colours of the flag of Madagascar originally had no meaning?
... that Indian film editor A. Sreekar Prasad holds a record for editing films in 17 different languages?
... that Alfred Biliotti excavated the first known examples of Mycenaean painted pottery in 1868?
... that the Dublin Castle scandal in 1884 led to the resignations, loss of positions, and criminal convictions of a number of British administrators in Dublin, and celebrations amongst Irish nationalists?
... that in Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cited Thomas Mangelsen's Catch of the Day as a photograph so original in its timing that it could be copyrightable for that alone?
... that the rulers of the Yuan dynasty styled themselves as both Mongol khans and Chinese emperors?
... that Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is based on Egyptian Ratscrew?

Today's featured picture

Picture of the day

Sphex ichneumoneus, commonly known as the great golden digger wasp, is a wasp in the family Sphecidae. It is native to the Western Hemisphere, from Canada to South America, and provisions its young with various types of paralyzed Orthoptera. The species is identifiable by the golden pubescence on its head and thorax, its reddish orange legs, and partly reddish orange body. This S. ichneumoneus wasp was photographed in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City, United States.Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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