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From today's featured article

The scarlet myzomela (Myzomela sanguinolenta) is a small bird of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae native to Australia. It was described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801. At 9 to 11 centimetres (3.5 to 4.3 in) long, it is the smallest honeyeater in Australia. It has a short tail and relatively long down-curved bill. The male (example pictured) is a striking bright red with black wings, while the female is entirely brown. It is more vocal than most honeyeaters; its varied calls include a bell-like tinkling. Found along most of the eastern coastline, the scarlet myzomela is migratory in the southern parts of its range. Its natural habitat is forest, where it forages mainly in the upper tree canopy for insects as well as nectar. Up to three broods may be raised over the course of a breeding season. The female lays two or rarely three flecked white eggs in a cup-shaped nest 5 centimetres (2 in) across, high in a tree. The species is not threatened. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

The Annunciation (1898) by Henry Ossawa Tanner

... that in his 1898 painting The Annunciation (pictured), Henry Ossawa Tanner uses a column of light to depict the angel Gabriel?
... that Jacquie Sturm was the first Māori writer to have her work published in a New Zealand anthology?
... that Green Bullfrog featured members of Deep Purple, Procol Harum and Chas & Dave?
... that due to her Casualty character Ruby Spark's near-photographic memory, actress Maddy Hill had to learn all the intricate details of the medical terminology used by the character?
... that people thought Boxers would gentrify Washington Heights?
... that Gardner Dow was the only American college football player to die of sports-related injuries in 1919?
... that English musician Jane Weaver's album Flock was inspired by Lebanese torch songs, 1980s Russian Aerobics records, and Australian punk music?
... that author Edmund G. Love spent several years homeless, sleeping on the subway and interacting with other homeless people, leading him to write the book Subways Are For Sleeping?

In the news

Hualien train derailment

An express train derails (pictured) in Hualien County, Taiwan, killing at least 50 people.
Dozens of civilians are killed and 35,000 others displaced after Islamist rebels seize the city of Palma in Mozambique.
Former President of Madagascar Didier Ratsiraka dies at the age of 84.
The cargo ship Ever Given is freed after it had run aground, blocking the Suez Canal for six days and resulting in a traffic jam of more than 350 vessels.

On this day

April 3

Seal of Edward the Confessor

1043 – Edward the Confessor (depicted on seal), usually considered to be the last king of the House of Wessex, was crowned King of England.
1559 – Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain signed a treaty to end the last Italian War.
1946 – Imperial Japanese Army officer Masaharu Homma was executed for war crimes committed during the Bataan Death March.
1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, was unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
1996 – A U.S. Air Force CT-43 crashed into a mountainside while attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing all 35 people on board, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.

Thomas C. Kinkaid (b. 1888)
Pál Teleki (d. 1941)
Graham Greene (d. 1991)

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Today's featured picture

The zebra dove (Geopelia striata) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae, native to southeastern Asia. The diet consists mostly of grass and weed seeds, and they will also eat insects and other small invertebrates. They prefer to forage on bare ground, short grass or on roadsides, scurrying about with rodent-like movement. Unlike other doves, they tend to forage alone or in pairs. Their grey-and-brown barred plumage camouflages them well when they are on the ground. This zebra dove was photographed in the Chinese Garden in Singapore.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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