Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 2023
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September 1
Banksia dentata is a species of tree in the genus Banksia. It occurs in northern Australia, southern New Guinea and the Aru Islands. Growing as a gnarled tree up to 7 m (23 ft) high, it has leaves up to 22 cm (8.7 in) long with toothed margins. The cylindrical yellow flower spikes, up to 13 cm (5 in) high, appear between November and May, attracting honeyeaters, sunbirds, sugar gliders and insects. Flowers fall off the spikes, which swell and develop follicles containing up to two seeds each. Collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, B. dentata is one of the four Banksia species published in 1782 as part of Carl Linnaeus the Younger's original description of Banksia. It is classified in Salicinae, a series, or group of species, from Australia's eastern states. Genetic studies show it to be an early offshoot within the group. It is found in savanna, associated with Pandanus and Melaleuca. After bushfires it regrows from its woody base, known as a lignotuber. (Full article...)
September 2
His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. It stands on the site of the Queen's Theatre (1705) designed by John Vanbrugh, where more than 25 operas by George Frideric Handel premiered. The present building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) there. In the early 20th century, the theatre hosted spectacular productions of Shakespeare and other classical works, and premieres by such playwrights as Bernard Shaw and Noël Coward. The theatre's capacity is 1,216 seats, and it was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in 1970. LW Theatres has owned the building since 2000. The land beneath it is on a long-term lease from the Crown Estate. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has run at His Majesty's since 1986. It was known as "Her Majesty's Theatre" during the reigns of Victoria and Elizabeth II. (Full article...)
September 3
SS Princess Alice sank on 3 September 1878 after a collision with the collier vessel SS Bywell Castle on the River Thames. Between 600 and 700 people died, all from the paddle steamer, in the greatest loss of life of any British inland waterway shipping accident. Princess Alice was owned by the London Steamboat Co and captained by William R. H. Grinstead. The collision occurred in an area where 75 million imperial gallons (340,000 m3) of London's raw sewage had just been released. The steamer broke into three parts, and many of her passengers drowned in the heavily polluted waters. The jury in the coroner's inquest put more of the blame on the collier; the inquiry run by the Board of Trade found that Princess Alice had not followed the right path and was culpable. In the aftermath of the sinking, changes were made to the release and treatment of sewage. The Marine Police Force were provided with steam launches, after the rowing boats used up to that point had proved insufficient. (Full article...)
September 4
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The Rhodesia Information Centre (RIC) represented the Rhodesian government in Australia from 1966 to 1980. As Australia did not recognise Rhodesia's independence it operated on an unofficial basis. The centre's activities included lobbying politicians, spreading propaganda supporting white minority rule in Rhodesia and advising Australian businesses on how they could evade the United Nations sanctions that had been imposed on the country. These activities violated United Nations Security Council resolutions. The RIC had little impact, with Australian media coverage of the Rhodesian regime being almost entirely negative and the government's opposition to white minority rule in Rhodesia hardening over time. The Australian government made several attempts to force the centre to close, all of which were unsuccessful. The Zimbabwean government shut the centre in May 1980 after the end of white minority rule and later established an official embassy in Australia. (Full article...)
September 5
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Robert Kaske (1921–1989) was an American professor of medieval literature who founded the medieval studies program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He published lengthy interpretations of Beowulf and of poems and passages by Dante and Chaucer. Kaske particularly enjoyed solving difficult, puzzling passages in works such as Pearl, Piers Plowman, the Divine Comedy, "The Husband's Message" and "The Descent into Hell". In 1975 he was appointed chief editor of the journal Traditio. Over the course of his career he collected what one former student termed "most of the awards and honors possible for a medieval scholar", including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. In 1988 Kaske published Medieval Christian Literary Imagery: A Guide to Interpretation, which colleagues called a "magisterial work". (Full article...)
September 6
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The Marmaduke–Walker duel was fought between John S. Marmaduke (pictured) and Lucius M. Walker, two generals in the Confederate States Army, on September 6, 1863, near Little Rock, Arkansas. Tensions had risen between the two officers during the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, when Marmaduke accused Walker of not supporting his force, then retaliated by not informing Walker of a Confederate retreat. Marmaduke was later assigned to serve under Walker during a Union advance against Little Rock. Walker did not support Marmaduke during a retreat after the Battle of Brownsville. After the Battle of Bayou Meto on August 27, Marmaduke questioned Walker's courage. A series of notes passed between the two generals by friends resulted in a duel, during which Walker received a fatal wound. Marmaduke was arrested, but later released; he survived the war and later became Governor of Missouri. Union forces captured Little Rock later in the campaign, after the Battle of Bayou Fourche. (Full article...)
September 7
The UEFA Euro 1976 final was the final match of Euro 1976, and was contested on 20 June 1976 by Czechoslovakia and West Germany, at Stadion Crvena Zvezda (pictured), Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia initially took the lead 2–0 during the first half, but West Germany narrowed the gap with a goal before halftime. There was no scoring in the second half until the final minute of regular time, when West Germany won a corner, which was headed past Ivo Viktor by Bernd Hölzenbein at the near post, and the game went into extra time. When that resulted in no change to the score, the first penalty shoot-out in a European Championships final ensued. The first seven kicks were converted, until West Germany's fourth penalty taker, Uli Hoeneß, struck his shot over the bar. Antonín Panenka stepped up to take the fifth Czechoslovak penalty. Sepp Maier dived while Panenka gently lobbed the ball straight in the middle of the net to win the shoot-out and secure Czechoslovakia's first European Championship. (Full article...)
September 8
"Deja Vu" is a song by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo (pictured) from her debut studio album, Sour (2021). Rodrigo wrote the song with its producer, Dan Nigro. Geffen and Interscope Records released it as the album's second single on April 1, 2021. Incorporating various pop sub-genres, "Deja Vu" is about heartbreak and explores Rodrigo's anguish about her ex-partner repeating things they did in his new relationship. It received critical acclaim; many considered it a strong follow-up to "Drivers License" (2021). "Deja Vu" debuted at number eight in the US and made Rodrigo the first artist to debut their first two singles in the top ten, peaking at number three. The song reached the top ten in various countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. Allie Avital directed the music video, which depicts Rodrigo observing her ex mimic their relationship with his new love interest. Rodrigo performed the song on shows and included it on the set list for her 2022 Sour Tour. (Full article...)
September 9
The Million Second Quiz is an American game show that was hosted by Ryan Seacrest (pictured) and broadcast by NBC from September 9 to September 19, 2013. For one million seconds, contestants attempted to win trivia matches, and the four top scorers competed in a stepladder playoff for a top prize of $2,000,000. Stephen Lambert, Eli Holzman, and David Hurwitz served as executive producers of The Million Second Quiz. The show helped to promote NBC's lineup for the 2013–14 television season. NBC broadcast a live prime time show for each night of the competition (except during Sunday Night Football), including a two-hour finale. Using a mobile app, viewers could play the game against others and potentially earn a chance to appear as a contestant during the prime time episodes. Critics argued that The Million Second Quiz suffered from a confusing format and a lack of drama. Ratings dropped after the show's premiere. (Full article...)
September 10
Rotating locomotion in living systems includes both the rolling of entire organisms, and the use of structures that propel by rotating relative to a fixed body, such as a wheel or propeller. Though the former mode is used by varied forms of life, including pangolins and tumbleweeds, the latter is only known to occur in bacteria using microscopic, corkscrew-like flagella. While other human technologies, like wings and lenses, have common natural analogues, multicellular organisms have apparently never evolved rotating propulsive structures. Such structures may be infeasible to grow and maintain with biological processes. Compared with walking or running on limbs, in natural environments, wheeled propulsion is rarely as energy-efficient, versatile, or capable of navigating obstacles. This is likely why wheels were regionally abandoned at least once in history. Rolling and wheeled creatures have appeared in speculative fiction and the legends of many cultures. (Full article...)
September 11
The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safe deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, England, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault (diagram shown). The property stolen was probably worth between £1.25 and £3 million; only £231,000 was recovered by the police. The burglary was planned by Anthony Gavin, a career criminal, who was inspired by "The Red-Headed League", a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle in which Sherlock Holmes waits in a bank vault to arrest a gang who have tunnelled in through the floor. Gavin and his colleagues rented a leather goods shop, and tunnelled during weekends. Police found members of the gang soon after the break-in; one of the burglars had signed the lease in his own name, and informers led investigators to Gavin. Many of the papers relating to the burglary remain under embargo at The National Archives until January 2071. (Full article...)
September 12
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at 3,021 miles (4,862 km). It runs from Seattle, Washington, to Boston, Massachusetts, passing through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and Northeast. The highway serves 13 states and has 15 auxiliary routes, primarily in major cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester. The route incorporates several toll roads that predate the Interstate Highway System, including the Ohio Turnpike, New York State Thruway, and Massachusetts Turnpike. These toll roads opened in the 1950s and were followed by toll-free sections a decade later. The Midwestern sections of I-90 were fully completed in 1978, and the majority of the route between Seattle and South Dakota opened by 1987. The final section, near the western terminus in Seattle, opened on September 12, 1993; an eastern extension in Boston was completed in 2003 as part of the Big Dig project. (Full article...)
September 13
The 1867 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania, voted on by the state legislature, was held on January 15, 1867. Simon Cameron was elected to the Senate for the third time; he had been chosen in 1845 and in 1857. Cameron and Governor Andrew Curtin each led a faction of Republicans and had clashed as early as 1855. Cameron tried to block Curtin from the party nomination for governor in 1860, while Curtin attempted to get Cameron excluded from Abraham Lincoln's cabinet; each failed. With the Republicans holding a majority in the 1867 legislature, the battle was for the party's endorsement, which Thaddeus Stevens and Galusha Grow also sought. The party caucus chose Cameron, who then defeated incumbent Edgar Cowan, the Democratic Party nominee. Cowan never again held office; Curtin later served in Congress as a Democrat. Cameron remained in the Senate until he resigned in 1877 to allow his son to take the seat. The Cameron political machine dominated Pennsylvania politics for a half century. (Full article...)
September 14
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"Love Story" is a country pop song written and sung by Taylor Swift (pictured). It was released on September 15, 2008, as the lead single from Swift's album Fearless. Swift used Romeo and Juliet as a reference point while writing "Love Story". The lyrics are about a couple's happy ending after enduring a troubled romance. Critics praised the production as catchy and have considered it one of Swift's best singles. "Love Story" peaked in the top five on charts of at least seven countries including the US, where it is Swift's best-selling single. Its music video won Video of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards and CMT Music Awards in 2009. Following the dispute over the ownership of Swift's back catalog, Swift re-recorded the song and released it as "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" in 2021. The re-recorded single topped the Hot Country Songs chart and made Swift the second artist, after Dolly Parton, to reach number one with both the original and re-recorded versions of a song. (Full article...)
September 15
"Love Story" is a country pop song written and sung by Taylor Swift (pictured). It was released on September 15, 2008, as the lead single from Swift's album Fearless. Swift used Romeo and Juliet as a reference point while writing "Love Story". The lyrics are about a couple's happy ending after enduring a troubled romance. Critics praised the production as catchy and have considered it one of Swift's best singles. "Love Story" peaked in the top five on charts of at least seven countries including the US, where it is Swift's best-selling single. Its music video won Video of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards and CMT Music Awards in 2009. Following the dispute over the ownership of Swift's back catalog, Swift re-recorded the song and released it as "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" in 2021. The re-recorded single topped the Hot Country Songs chart and made Swift the second artist, after Dolly Parton, to reach number one with both the original and re-recorded versions of a song. (Full article...)
September 16
Astatine is a very rare radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol At and the atomic number 85. It occurs on Earth as the decay product of heavier elements. All its isotopes are short-lived, with half-lives of 8.1 hours or less. The element has never been viewed because a mass large enough to be seen would be immediately vaporized by the heat of its radioactivity. The bulk properties of astatine are not known with any certainty, but they have been predicted based on its similarity to the lighter halogens directly above it in the periodic table: fluorine, chlorine, bromine and especially iodine. It is likely to appear dark or lustrous and may be a semiconductor or a metal. Chemically, several anionic species of astatine are known and most of its compounds resemble those of iodine. It also shows some metallic behavior, and may be able to form a stable monatomic cation in aqueous solution, unlike the lighter halogens. (Full article...)
September 17
Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, in April 2015 for Windows, and in March 2022 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, it is set within the fictional state of San Andreas (based on Southern California) and its city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles). The single-player story follows three protagonists and their heist attempts. Grand Theft Auto Online, the game's online multiplayer mode, offers a number of different cooperative and competitive game modes. The game received critical acclaim, with praise directed at its multiple protagonist design, open world, presentation, and gameplay. It is considered among the best video games ever made and is the second-best-selling video game ever, with more than 180 million copies sold. (Full article...)
September 18
Rod Steiger (1925–2002) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. He is closely associated with the art of method acting, embodying the characters he played, which at times led to clashes with directors and co-stars. He starred with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954), playing Charley, the mobster brother of Brando's character. He played the title character Sol Nazerman in The Pawnbroker (1964), and an opportunistic Russian politician in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (1965). Steiger won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mississippi police chief Bill Gillespie opposite Sidney Poitier in the film In the Heat of the Night (1967). During the 1970s, Steiger turned to European productions in his search for more demanding roles. He portrayed Napoleon in Waterloo (1970) and a Mexican bandit in Sergio Leone's Duck, You Sucker! (1971). He ended the decade playing a disturbed priest in The Amityville Horror (1979). (Full article...)
September 19
The Battle of Poitiers was fought on 19 September 1356 between a French army commanded by King John II and an Anglo-Gascon force under Edward, the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years' War. The Anglo-Gascons had set out on a major campaign while John gathered a large and unusually mobile army and pursued. The 6,000 Anglo-Gascons stood on the defensive and were attacked by 14,000 to 16,000 Frenchmen. An initial assault was driven back after hard fighting. A second under John's son and heir was also repulsed. Many Frenchmen then left the field. Those remaining gathered around the King and launched another attack, while signalling that no prisoners were to be taken. The French got the better of this fight until a small Anglo-Gascon force appeared behind them. The French panicked and their force collapsed; John and his youngest son were taken prisoner. Negotiations to end the war and ransom John resulted in the 1360 Treaty of Brétigny, which temporarily ended the war with an English victory. (Full article...)
September 20
Al-Adid (1151–1171) was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, and the twenty-fourth imam of the Hafizi Isma'ili branch of Shi'a Islam, reigning from 1160 to 1171. Like the previous two caliphs, al-Adid came to the throne as a child, a puppet in the hands of various strongmen who became viziers of the Fatimid Caliphate. The power struggles in Cairo weakened the Fatimid state, strengthening both the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state, and Nur al-Din, the Sunni ruler of Syria. The Crusaders repeatedly invaded Egypt; the Syrians sent their general, Shirkuh, to counter them. In January 1169, Shirkuh occupied Cairo and became vizier, but died shortly after. He was succeeded by his nephew, Saladin, who was at first conciliatory towards al-Adid, but proceeded to dismantle the Fatimid regime, with al-Adid sidelined. Sunni Islam was established as state religion, culminating in the official proclamation of Abbasid suzerainty in September 1171. Al-Adid died a few days later; his family was placed under house arrest. (Full article...)
September 21
Robert Howard Hodgkin (1877–1951), nicknamed "Robin", was an English historian who spent his career at The Queen's College, Oxford (pictured). He was appointed a lecturer of modern history in 1900, made a fellow in 1904 and a tutor in 1910, and held the post of university lecturer in modern history from 1928 to 1934. In 1936 and 1937, Hodgkin became pro-provost when B. H. Streeter fell ill, then retired shortly after Streeter's return. Streeter soon died in a plane crash, however, and Hodgkin, only six days into his retirement, was called upon to take on the role of provost; he served until 1946. Hodgkin was remembered for his dedication, his flexible teaching style, shepherding the college through the wartime years, the reconstruction of the college's grand library, and his book on the college's history. He was particularly known for his 1935 work, A History of the Anglo-Saxons. Hodgkin was also part of a so-called "Quaker dynasty"; he was forced to leave the Society of Friends after serving in the Second Boer War. (Full article...)
September 22
Zmaj was built in Germany as a seaplane tender for the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1928 and 1930, and converted to a minelayer in 1937. During the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she was slightly damaged by Italian dive bombers. Captured by the Italians, she was handed over to the Germans who renamed her Drache. She was used as a seaplane tender and later as a troop transport. In mid-1942 she was rebuilt as a minelayer with improved anti-aircraft armament, renamed Schiff 50, and then used to evaluate the shipboard use of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare and mine reconnaissance. She continued to be used as both a troop transport and minelayer, laying several minefields in the Aegean Sea. A minefield she laid in the Dodecanese in 1943 sank one British submarine and two Allied destroyers, and badly damaged a third. Sunk by British aircraft on 22 September 1944 while in port (pictured), she was scrapped in place after World War II. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.)
September 23
Shaylee Mansfield is an American actress and former YouTuber. Mansfield, who is deaf, first gained recognition by making videos in which she tells Christmas stories in American Sign Language. In 2016, Mansfield appeared in an advertisement by Disney Parks, in which she met Minnie Mouse, who was learning sign language at Walt Disney World. The video quickly went viral and became one of Disney's most-watched advertisements. In 2019, Mansfield made her acting debut in Disney's Noelle. The following year, her request for automatic captioning on Instagram drew attention from several media publications and became popular on Twitter. She received further recognition for her roles in the films Feel the Beat (2020) and 13 Minutes (2021). In 2022, for her signed performance on the animated series Madagascar: A Little Wild, Mansfield was credited alongside the voice actors. (Full article...)
September 24
Victoria (1819–1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death, the longest reign in British history to that point. Victoria was the only child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Edward died in 1820, and Victoria eventually inherited the throne aged 18 since Edward's elder brothers had all died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal families across Europe, and Victoria was dubbed "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria went into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result, British republicanism gained strength. Her popularity later recovered, and she became a national icon. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of national celebration. Victoria was succeeded by her son Edward VII. (Full article...)
September 25
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Iron Gwazi is a steel-track hybrid roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, U.S. The ride first opened in 1999 as Gwazi, a wooden roller coaster with two tracks in a dueling configuration. It was built by Great Coasters International on the former site of an Anheuser-Busch brewery at the park. Although well received initially, Gwazi became difficult to maintain over time, leading to the closure of one track in 2012 followed by the other in 2015. It remained closed until Busch Gardens, in 2019, announced that Rocky Mountain Construction would transform Gwazi into a hybrid roller coaster. Its two wooden tracks were replaced by a single steel track, with portions of the original support structure reused. The ride reopened as Iron Gwazi on March 11, 2022, becoming North America's tallest, steepest, and fastest hybrid roller coaster. Iron Gwazi received positive reviews from critics and won Best New Roller Coaster in Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards publication. (Full article...)
September 26
Georges Feydeau (1862–1921) was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces. His first full-length comedy, Tailleur pour dames ('Ladies' tailor'), was well-received. After studying earlier masters of French comedy, particularly Eugène Labiche, Alfred Hennequin and Henri Meilhac, he wrote or collaborated on seventeen full-length plays between 1892 and 1914, many of which have become staples of the theatrical repertoire in France and abroad. They include L'Hôtel du libre échange ('The Free Exchange Hotel', 1894), La Dame de chez Maxim ('The lady from Maxim's', 1899), La Puce à l'oreille ('A flea in her ear', 1907) and Occupe-toi d'Amélie! ('Look after Amélie', 1908). His plays are marked by recognisable characters and fast-moving comic plots of mistaken identity, attempted adultery, split-second timing and a precariously happy ending. In the 1940s and 1950s, productions by Jean-Louis Barrault and the Comédie-Française revived interest in his works. (Full article...)
September 27
The Army of Sambre and Meuse was one of the armies of the French Revolution. It was formed on 29 June 1794 by combining the Army of the Ardennes, the left wing of the Army of the Moselle and the right wing of the Army of the North. After an inconclusive campaign in 1795, the French planned a co-ordinated offensive in 1796 using Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's Army of Sambre and Meuse and the Army of the Rhine and Moselle, commanded by his superior, Jean Victor Moreau. This was successful, as the French won a series of victories; the Army of Sambre and Meuse maneuvered around northern Bavaria and Franconia, while the Army of the Rhine and Moselle operated in Bavaria. Disputes internal to the French forces prevented the two armies from uniting, giving the Austrians time to unite their own forces and drive Jourdan's forces away and eventually across the Rhine. On 29 September 1797, the Army of Sambre and Meuse merged with the Army of the Rhine and Moselle to become the Army of Germany. (Full article...)
September 28
The Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) was a rocket engine development program intended to establish a technology base for nuclear thermal rocket systems for space missions, as this promised to be more efficient than chemical rockets. NERVA was a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission and NASA, and was managed by the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO). NERVA was considered a successful program in that it met or exceeded its program goals and demonstrated that nuclear thermal rocket engines were a feasible and reliable tool for space exploration. At the end of 1968 the SNPO deemed that the latest NERVA engine, the XE (pictured), met the requirements for a human mission to Mars. It had strong political support but was canceled by President Richard Nixon in 1973. Although NERVA engines were built and tested largely with flight-certified components and were deemed ready for integration into spacecraft, they never flew in space. (Full article...)
September 29
Hurricane Walaka was the nineteenth named storm and second Category 5 hurricane of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season. As a tropical cyclone, it originated from an area of low pressure that formed around 1,600 mi (2,600 km) south-southeast of Hawaii on September 24, and became a tropical storm on September 29. The system tracked westward and peaked with winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and a pressure of 921 mbar (27.20 inHg) on October 2, before accelerating northeastward and dissipating on October 7. The storm passed close to Johnston Atoll, from which four scientists were evacuated before the storm hit. East Island in the French Frigate Shoals suffered a direct hit and was destroyed. The storm damaged the nesting grounds for multiple endangered species, and coral reefs in the region suffered considerable damage, displacing the local fish population. Several dozen people were rescued off the southern shore of Oahu as the storm brought high surf to the main Hawaiian Islands. (Full article...)
September 30
The secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a large, mostly terrestrial bird of prey. Endemic to Africa, it is usually found in the open grasslands and savannas of the sub-Saharan region. It is a very large bird with an eagle-like body on crane-like legs that give the bird a height of about 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in). The sexes are similar in appearance. Adults have a featherless red-orange face and mostly grey plumage, with a flattened dark crest and black flight feathers and thighs. The secretarybird hunts and catches prey on the ground, often stomping on victims to kill them. Insects and small vertebrates make up its diet. Although the secretarybird has a large range, localised surveys suggest that the total population is experiencing a rapid decline, probably as a result of habitat degradation. The species is therefore classed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The secretarybird appears on the coats of arms of Sudan and South Africa. (Full article...)