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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...)

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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.
Former president of Nicaragua and first elected female president in the Americas Violeta Chamorro dies at the age of 95.
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.

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)

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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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