Wikipedia:Main Page/Yesterday
From yesterday's featured article
The horned sungem (Heliactin bilophus) is a species of hummingbird native to Brazil, Bolivia and Suriname. It prefers open habitats such as savanna, grassland and garden, and expanded its range into southern Amazonas and Espírito Santo, probably due to deforestation. It is a small hummingbird with a long tail and a short, black bill. The sexes differ in appearance, with males having two shiny red, golden, and green feather "horns" above the eyes, a shiny blue head crest and a black throat with a pointed "beard". The female is plainer, with a brown or yellow–buff throat. It is a nomadic species, responding to the seasonal flowering of its food plants. If a flower's shape is unsuited to the bird's short bill, it may rob nectar through a hole at its base. It also eats small insects. Only the female builds the small cup nest, incubates the two white eggs, and rears the chicks. The species is currently classified as least concern, and its population is thought to be increasing. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that new employees of a business headquartered in the Editors Building (pictured) chose their office decorations from a 7,000-piece collection of historic memorabilia of Washington, D.C.?
- ... that the fossil insect Allenbya holmesae was named after its finder's mother's maiden name?
- ... that Eric Sievers helped the San Diego Chargers set an NFL record for receptions by tight ends on a team?
- ... that the literary magazine Adabijoti Soveti was the sole remaining publication in the Jewish-Bukharian language by the time of the switch to the Cyrillic script in 1939–1940?
- ... that Charlize Mörz became the first Austrian female gymnast to win a gold medal in the FIG World Cup series in 2024?
- ... that the 2023 drama film Fly Me to the Moon was Sasha Chuk's debut as a director, screenwriter and lead actress, making it her first feature film in all three categories?
- ... that with the appointment of Michael Martin as Bishop of Charlotte, the Conventual Franciscans are now the most represented religious order among American Catholic bishops?
- ... that in 1990, Simon Rimmer bought an existing vegetarian restaurant with his business partner and taught himself to cook – in that order?
- ... that the perpetrator of the 2017 Aztec High School shooting had previously been investigated by the FBI, but the investigation was closed after he convinced them that he was simply "trolling"?
In the news (For today)
- Flooding (pictured) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, leaves more than 100 people dead and at least 130 others missing.
- Kyren Wilson wins the World Snooker Championship.
- In horse racing, Mystik Dan wins the Kentucky Derby.
- Following the Solomon Islands general election, Jeremiah Manele becomes the prime minister.
- Acting prime minister of Haiti Ariel Henry resigns, and the Transitional Presidential Council is sworn in.
On the previous day
May 9: Europe Day in the European Union; Liberation Day in the Channel Islands (1945)
- 1877 – An earthquake struck northern Chile, leading to the deaths of 2,385 people, mostly victims of the ensuing tsunami, as far away as Hawaii and Fiji.
- 1944 – World War II: The Japanese Take Ichi convoy arrived at Halmahera in the Dutch East Indies after losing many ships and thousands of troops to Allied attacks while attempting to carry two divisions of troops from China to New Guinea.
- 1977 – The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was destroyed by fire (pictured), leaving 33 people dead.
- 1980 – Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by the MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people.
- 2001 – Police at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, Ghana, fired tear gas to quell unrest at a football match, leading to a stampede that killed 126 people.
- Al-Adid (b. 1151)
- John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair (d. 1747)
- Yukiya Amano (b. 1947)
Yesterday's featured picture
The acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) is a bird in the woodpecker family, Picidae. It is found across Central America, as well as the western United States and parts of Colombia. A medium-sized bird, it has a length of around 20 cm (8 in) and is mostly black, and adult males have a red cap starting at the forehead and females a black area between the forehead and the cap. As their name implies, acorn woodpeckers are heavily dependent on acorns for food, which they store in small holes that they drill into trees, known as "granaries" or "storage trees". This acorn woodpecker was photographed in the grounds of California State University, Chico, United States. Photograph credit: Frank Schulenburg
Recently featured:
|
Other areas of Wikipedia
- Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
- Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
- Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
- Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
- Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
- Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.
Wikipedia's sister projects
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
MediaWiki
Wiki software development -
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikispecies
Directory of species -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Wikipedia languages
This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.
-
1,000,000+ articles
-
250,000+ articles
-
50,000+ articles