Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 May 15

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Today's featured article
The American Goldfinch is a North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the Canadian border to Mexico during the winter. The only finch in its subfamily which undergoes a complete molt, the American Goldfinch displays sexual dimorphism in its coloration; the male is a vibrant yellow in the summer and an olive color during the winter months, while the female is a dull yellow-brown shade which brightens only slightly during the summer. The male displays brightly colored plumage during the breeding season to attract a mate. The American Goldfinch is a granivore and adapted for the consumption of seedheads, with a conical beak to remove the seeds and agile feet to grip the stems of seedheads while feeding. It is a social bird, and will gather in large flocks while feeding and migrating. The breeding season is tied to the peak of food supply, beginning in late July, which is relatively late in the year for a finch. Human activity has generally benefited the American Goldfinch. It is often found in residential areas, attracted to bird feeders installed by humans, which increase its survival rate in these areas. Deforestation also creates open meadow areas which are the preferred habitat of the American Goldfinch. (more...) Recently featured: Virginia – Battle of Khafji – Hurricane Rick Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest articles: ... that a loch on Rubha an Dùnain (pictured) has the remains of a 12th century stone quay and a "Viking canal" unlike any other site in Scotland? ... that in 1957, at the pinnacle of the Cold War, mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom became the first American to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow? ... that the background of the Spanish Civil War includes a period called the "black two years" between 1934 and 1936? ... that Abbud al-Zumar, founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad which merged into al-Qaeda under his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri in 1998, provided the ammunition which assassinated President Anwar Sadat on 6 October 1981? ... that the Guild of St. Bernulphus, a guild trade union of church Gothic Revival architecture, was operated more like a jovial feasting fraternity than a scholarly society? ... that in the credits of the unaired pilot episode of Here Comes Tobor, the robot Tobor is credited as playing himself? ... that prior to the 2011 National Democratic Party presidential primaries, a former first lady of Ghana was the first person to seek the ruling party's nomination for president? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
"Running Scared", performed by Eldar & Nigar from Azerbaijan, wins the Eurovision Song Contest. New analysis of data gathered by the Galileo spacecraft provides direct evidence of an ocean of magma beneath the surface of Io (pictured), one of Jupiter's moons. In a state assembly election held in West Bengal, India, the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government loses power. A double bombing in Charsadda District, Pakistan, kills at least 80 people and injures more than 150 others. A 5.1-magnitude earthquake, Spain's deadliest in 55 years, occurs near the town of Lorca. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
May 15: Teachers' Day in Mexico and South Korea; Nakba Day in Palestinian communities; Constituent Assembly Day in Lithuania 1869 – Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded. 1966 – Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính and ousted him from the position. 1974 – A unit of the Golani Brigade assaulted an elementary school in Ma'alot, Israel, where three armed members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine had taken 115 people hostage, resulting in 28 deaths. 1990 – Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet (pictured) was sold at auction in Christie's New York office for a total of US$82.5 million, at the time the world's most expensive painting. 1997 – During the dedication of the Laos Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, the United States first publicly acknowledged its role in the Laotian Civil War, which had ended twenty-two years earlier. More anniversaries: May 14 – May 15 – May 16 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now May 15, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

Dundasite (white), an uncommon lead aluminium carbonate mineral, intermingled with crocoite (orange). Dundasite occurs in the oxidized zone of lead ore deposits. It is named after the type locality, Dundas, Tasmania, Australia.

Photo: JJ Harrison

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