In 1933, the decision was made to construct the national stadium alongside the Jamor ravine. The original design was authored by Francisco Caldeira Cabral and Konrad Weisner and Jacobetty Rosa, with works beginning in 1939.
It was inaugurated on 10 June 1944 (Portugal Day) by the Council president António Oliveira Salazar.
Work was complete in the Quinta da Graça (in 1953), to install the Comissão Administrativa do Estádio Nacional (National Stadium Administrative Commission).
In 1961, construction on the hippodrome began, in addition to the first phase of work on the shooting range, by the Serviços de Construção e de Conservação (Construction and Conservation Services).
The Plano de Ordenamento do Complexo Desportivo da Jamor (Jamor Sports Complex Development Plan) was issued on July 1982, ordered by the DGEMN Direção-Geral de Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (Directorate-General for Buildings and National Monuments), authored by the architects Vasco Croft (coordinator), Nuno Bártolo and Joaquim Cadima, and by the landscape firm Professor Caldeira Cabral, Associados, Estudos e Projectos, Ld. (under the direction of landscape architects Francisco Caldeira Cabral and agronomist engineer João Caldeira Cabral. During this phase, diagnostic studies were performed to reformulate and re-evaluate the strategic importance of the complex.
In May 1985, the study Estabelecimento de zona de protecção (to establish a protection zone) was ordered by the DGEMN, by architects Vasco Croft and Nuno Bártolo, to limit the sports complex zone, providing a buffer for military access, a non aedificandi zone and urban growth, in addition to expansion for green spaces and support areas for nautical sports.
In 1993, a project to construct a sporting pavilion in Jamor was issued.
In September 2012, the Portuguese Football Federation announced that the stadium would undergo renovation in which work would begin in 2014.
It was announced by the Rugby governing body ERC on 2 September that the Portuguese team would hold their home games at the Estádio Nacional. However, all their home games were played at the Portuguese national rugby teams home stadium of Estádio Universitário de Lisboa.
On 6 February 2015, a tender was issued to cover the western edge of the audience seating for the rugby field.


Architecturally the stadium is noteworthy for its open east side, unusual for a stadium otherwise featuring a typical oval configuration. Its current capacity is 39,000 and it is the venue for the Portuguese football cup final.


The stadium has traditionally hosted the final of the Portuguese Cup (since 1946); in only five times was this game played in other venues and in total, 52 Cup finals have been played on the grounds. Portuguese football fans have bemoaned the historic stadium, owing to a lack of amenities; following the Euro 2004, there was a movement to move the event to one of the grounds built for the Euro football championships.
One memorable match was played here on 3 May 1949, when Benfica won 4-3 a testimonial to their captain Francisco Ferreira against Torino which turned out to be the last one played by the Grande Torino due to the Superga air disaster the following day.
The most prestigious international game ever staged at the Estádio Nacional was the 1967 European Cup Final, played between Celtic and Internazionale with the former winning 2-1 (becoming the first British European champion team, nicknamed the Lisbon Lions).
In addition to hosting the Portuguese national team since in 1945, the site has held 49 international events for Portugal.


The Rugby governing body ERC announced on 2 September 2014 that the Portuguese club Lusitanos XV would hold their home games of the 2013-14 Amlin Challenge Cup at National Stadium. However, all their home games of the 2013-14 Amlin Challenge Cup were played at the Portuguese national rugby teams home stadium of Estádio Universitário de Lisboa.


There have been notable concerts at the stadium, including The Police on 25 September 2007, as part of their The Police Reunion Tour and the Black Eyed Peas on 30 May 2010, during their The E.N.D. World Tour. Iron Maiden are scheduled to play a post-pandemic show at the stadium on 31 July 2022, on the final date of their Legacy of the Beast Tour.


"Visiting the Portuguese National Stadium". Football-Weekends. Lucas Laermans. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
"Estádio de Honra". Centro Desportivo Nacional do Jamor (in Portuguese). Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
"When Sporting and Partizan broke new ground". www.uefa.com. José Nuno Pimentel. 4 September 2015. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
Costa, Patrícia; Elias, Margarida (2014),  Centro de Investigação em Arquitectura, Urbanismo e Design (CIAUD-FA/UTL) (ed.), Complexo Desportivo do Estádio Nacional/Complexo Desportivo do Jamor (IPA.00022419/PT031110080066) (in Portuguese), Lisbon, Portugal: SIPA – Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico, archived from the original on 29 November 2020, retrieved 5 May 2017
Do Estádio Nacional ao Jardim Gulbenkian, Francisco Caldeira Cabral e a Primeira Geração de Arquitectos Paisagistas, de Teresa Andresen
"Centenário Francisco Caldeira Cabral » O Estádio Nacional e a polémica que envolveu este projecto". proffranciscocaldeiracabral.portaldojardim.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
"Jamor vai acolher a "Cidade do Futebol": obras começam em 2014" [Jamor will host the "Soccer City": works begin in 2014]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
www.ercrugby.com https://web.archive.org/web/20130905092645/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/22029.php. Archived from the original on 2013-09-05.
"The last game of Grande Torino at Lisbon, May 4th 1949". Fox Sports. 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
ERCRugby.comArchived 2013-09-05 at the Wayback Machine


Lewis Creek Park is a 40-acre (16 ha) recreation area located on the north shore of the reservoir. The park includes a roped-off swim beach, picnic areas, barbecues, paved trails, lake accessibility for shoreline fishing and boat moorage. The park is operated by the Linn County Parks Department.
Sunnyside Campground is a 98-acre (40 ha) park located on the eastern edge of Foster Reservoir. The park has 165 campsites including 132 campsites with electrical/water hook-ups, a dump station and restroom/shower facilities. A large day use area includes a playground, a sand volleyball court and lake shore access with picnic tables. There is also a large pond stocked with trout. The park, which is operated by the Linn County Parks Department, also offers a boat ramp and boat moorage.
Boat ramps are also located at Gedney Creek Park on the north side of the reservoir and at Calkins Park on the southeast edge of the reservoir.


Foster Reservoir is a popular destination for a variety of water sports including boating, water skiing and jet skiing. The reservoir has also become a popular location for triathlons and water polo tournaments.


Edgewater, a destination resort development, is located on the southwest edge of Foster Reservoir. Edgewater includes a 49-space RV park, lake-view townhomes and a marina. The marina offers slip rentals by the season, month and week, as well as a variety of recreational boat rentals.
Numerous other private and public campgrounds are located nearby.


Jantar Mantar located in New Delhi is built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the year 1724. The maharaja built five observatories during his ruling time in the 18th century. Among these five the one in Delhi is the first to be built. The other four observatories are located in Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi, and Jaipur.
The objective behind the construction of these observatories was to assemble astronomical data and to accurately predict the movement of the planets, moon, sun, etc. in the solar system. It was one of its kind at the time it was built. By the year 1867, when India was under the British Raj, the observatory had underwent considerable decay.


The Keating Building, also known as The Keating Hotel, is a 35-room luxury boutique hotel in San Diego.  Located in the center of the Gaslamp Quarter, the Keating is located near the San Diego Convention Center, Balboa Theater, and Petco Park.
It is a five-story Romanesque Revival-style building, built as an office building with then modern conveniences of steam heat and a wire cage elevator, in 1890.  It was designed by George J. Keating and was completed by the Reid Brothers after Keating's death.  The San Diego Savings Bank occupied the corner space in the building from 1893 to about 1912, and its old safe was still in the building in 1980.
In the 2000s its interior was redesigned by Pininfarina and in 2007 it was re-opened as the Keating Hotel.
In 2012, the hotel was featured on the FOX reality series Hotel Hell starring Gordon Ramsay.


The Kuromon was first built as the main gate of the Edo mansion of the branch of the Ikeda clan from the Tottori Domain, which included the Inaba Province and Hōki Province in the modern-day Tottori Prefecture. The mansion was located in the Marunouchi area (now Marunouchi 3-chome), and was part of the daimyō kōji (大名小路 daimyo alley), which included 24 such mansions.
In 1892 the gate was moved to Meiji-era Tōgū Palace in Akasaka, Tokyo, and some time later to the residence of Prince Takamatsu (1905–1987), the third son of Emperor Taishō.
It was designated an Important Cultural Property in September 1951.
Finally in March 1954 it was moved to its final location in the Tokyo National Museum and rebuilt there.


The gate, made in dark wood, has a large hipped-gable roof construction, with smaller Karahafu roofs on the sides, covering the guards' chambers.


Kuromon is located in the grounds of the Tokyo National Museum, but it can be seen from the outside with no admission fee.
The gate can also be seen more closely from inside the museum, by purchasing an entrance ticket.
On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, between 10 am and 4 pm, the gate is opened and can be walked through.


Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the permanent venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Lee Valley VeloPark is at the northern end of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It has a velodrome and BMX racing track, which have been used for the Games, as well as a one-mile (1.6 km) road course and 5 miles (8 km) of mountain bike trails. The park replaces the Eastway Cycle Circuit demolished to make way for it. The facilities built for the Olympics were constructed between 2009 and 2011. The first event in the Velopark was the London round of the 2011 UCI BMX Supercross World Cup series.


In February 2005, plans were announced for a £22 million VeloPark. Sport England would invest £10.5 million, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority £6 million and the Mayor of London and Transport for London would invest £3 million and £2.5 million respectively. The site was to be 34 hectares on the northern end of the proposed Olympic Park, next to the A12. The park would include a velodrome seating 1,500, which could be increased to 6,000 if London's bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were successful. The site would also have an international competition BMX circuit, a BMX freestyle park, cyclo-cross/cross-country course mountain bike course and an outdoor cycle speedway track. The facilities would be used by internationals as well as those learning to ride. It was estimated that the park would attract 88,000 users a year, replacing the Eastway Cycle Circuit. Eastway Cycle Circuit opened in 1975, it was the first purpose built road cycling venue in Britain.
The facility closed in September 2006 to make way for London's VeloPark. The velodrome is the third 250 m (270 yd) covered track in Great Britain. In September 2008 plans for the VeloPark were revealed, which were chosen with help from Chris Hoy. However, by March 2007, the VeloPark was revealed to be only a third of its original size, rescaled from 34 to 10 hectares. The decrease in the size of the site led to users of the Eastway cycle circuit to protest to the Mayor of London.


On 12 July 2007, the Olympic Delivery Authority selected the design team: Hopkins Architects, Expedition Engineering, BDSP, and Grant Associates, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions.
The Velopark was scheduled to be completed by the contractor, ISG, in 2011. In 2004, during London's Olympic and Paralympic bid, the estimated cost was £37 million, including £20 million for the velodrome.


In 2009, at the time work began on the construction of the velodrome, the estimated cost of that facility alone was £105 million. Work on the velodrome was completed in February 2011, and was the first Olympic Park venue to be completed. The roof is designed to reflect the geometry of cycling as well as being lightweight and efficient reflecting a bike. There is also a 360-degree concourse level with windows allowing people views of the Olympic Park. The velodrome is energy efficient—rooflights reduce the need for artificial lights, and natural ventilation reduces the need for air condition.  Rain water is also collected, which reduces the amount of water used from the municipal water system. Designer Ron Webb, who designed the velodrome tracks for the Sydney and Athens Games, was in charge of the design and installation of the track. The 250-metre track was made with 56 km (35 miles) of Siberian Pine and 350,000 nails.
The velodrome was officially opened by many successful British athletes including Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton. It is informally known as "The Pringle" due to its distinctive shape. It was shortlisted for the 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize. and won the 2011 Structural Awards Supreme Award for Structural Engineering. In 2011, it also won the Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award at British Construction Industry Awards.
The venue was used for the first time in competition during the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in February 2012. The velodrome was also used for the 2012 Paralympics.


The outdoor BMX racing track was scheduled to have a spectator capacity of 6,000. Work began on its construction in March 2011. After the games the seating was removed and the track reconfigured to accommodate all abilities. The first competition on the venue was the test event for the Olympic Games, a round of the 2011 UCI Supercross BMX World Cup series. The track for men is 470 metres long and features a berm jump, an S-bend transfer, a box jump and a rhythm section in the final straight. The women's course is 430 metres long featuring three jumps in the opening straight and a tunnel before like the men's including a rhythm section in the final straight. It has been called one of the most challenging BMX tracks to date. The track also features an 8-metre high starting ramp and was designed by the UCI with the aim of pushing the boundaries of the sport. 14,000 cubic metres (494,405 cu ft) of soil was used to build the track. After the Supercross world cup event, Shanaze Reade called for changes to the track. She stated that the track was "on the limit" if the wind changed. Sarah Walker echoed Reade's calls stating that the track could "get ugly" on a windy day.
In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in 2010 the Dutch National Olympic Committee commissioned a replica of the planned BMX track at their National Sports Centre Papendal. It came into use in March 2011, ahead of the hand over of the London Velopark BMX venue.


The venue was used for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic track cycling competition was held in the Velodrome with the adjoining BMX track hosting the Olympic BMX competition. Team GB dominated the track cycling competition winning seven out of a possible ten gold medals plus one silver and one bronze. The GB Paralympic track cycling team won a total of 15 medals, comprising five golds, seven silver and three bronze.


The Eastway Cycle Circuit was demolished for the VeloPark before being merged with the new park. It was announced that along with the VeloPark there would be three new cycle circuits created around London. In early February 2007 the plans for the VeloPark were revised with no mountain bike course. By mid-February it was announced that Hog Hill would be the temporary relocation of the Eastway Cycle Centre.
The promised cycle speedway track will not be built. In August 2011 it was announced that the road race course will be rerouted to allow more space and parkland after suggestions from Sport England and British Cycling. The course will now cross the River Lee and parkland linking up with other cycle routes in London.
British Cycling will remain based at the Olympic-standard Manchester Velodrome which has been a catalyst for the success of British Cycling in recent years, most notably at the 2008 Olympic Games. Team manager of British Cycling, David Brailsford has stated that the new indoor National BMX Arena in Manchester and the undulating terrain of North West England, ideal for practising road race cycling, offer a distinct advantage over London. An agreement was struck in 2012 to bring track cycling to the London Velodrome post-2012 Olympics, with events such as Revolution series which have proved popular in Manchester. In September 2013 the UCI announced that the Velodrome will host the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
The London Development Agency (LDA) have funded a new permanent road cycle circuit and mountain bike course at the Redbridge Cycling Centre, costing £5m. The London Borough of Redbridge will be funding the facility up to the completion of the legacy London Velopark.  Work is underway to identify an operator of Hog Hill beyond 2012.


Since opening for the public in March 2014, Lee Valley VeloPark has staged a number of major international events.
The first that took place in the venue was the grand finale of the Revolution series in February 2014.  This was followed by the opening round of the 2014–15 Revolution Series in October 2014 and in December 2014, the UCI Track Cycling World Cup took place at Lee Valley VeloPark. In February 2015, round five of the Revolution Series was staged at the venue while in February 2016, it hosted the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
On 7 June 2015, Sir Bradley Wiggins broke the UCI Hour record at the Velodrome, setting a distance of 54.526 km (33.881 miles).
The facility hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games track cycling competition.


Surrounding the inner court is the four-wing Fürstenbau. Three of its four corners are marked by towers (clockwise from the northwest) Kiliansturm, Marienturm and Randersackererturm. These mostly date to the rebuilding of the castle in the early 17th century. The Fürstenbau itself mostly reflects later 16th/17th century architecture and design but also features the Bibra Treppe (stairway) built in 1511. In the great hall (Fürstensaal) some 13th-century structures have been revealed.


The entrance to the site is by the Church or North Group. In the 16th century, the Spanish built the Church of San Pablo here,. It was constructed on top of a large pre-Hispanic platform, which now serves as the church atrium. The Zapotec believed that the lord and lady of the underworld lived in this group of structures. The Spaniards built their church here in turn to emphasize their power and to keep the “devil” from escaping.
The group also contains the main Zapotec temple, called the yohopàe, which translates to “house of the vital force.” This temple faces a large courtyard. The portal to the temple is flanked by two large columns, which lead into an antechamber. This antechamber once had a roof, supported by six columns, but only the columns and walls remain. Beyond the antechamber is the main room, where priests burned incense, made sacrifices and performed other rites. Behind the main chamber are the living quarters of the Zapotec priests. Walls throughout this building are covered by intricate mosaic fretwork, and murals depicting mythological scenes and characters.
There are lithic tombs, shaped as a cruciform or cross, under some of the buildings. They are reached by stairs that descend from the patio area. Inside they are decorated with mosaics. One of the tombs has an entrance that is divided by a thick column.  This column is popularly known as the "Columna de la Vida" (Column of Life). According to legend, if a person wraps their arms around the column, the space remaining between the hands indicates the amount of life the individual has left.


WikiWeb_Monument to the Conquerors of Space_5

The monument to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in downtown Borovsk, designed by Sergey Bychkov, contains a nearly exact scale replica of the Conquerors of Space "rocket needle" and a whimsical statue of Tsiolkovsky gazing into the skies (and wearing valenki boots). It was unveiled in 2007. A copy of this statue (but not the "rocket needle") is installed at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. A copy is also exhibited in the park of the United Nations Office in Geneva, a gift donated by the USSR and designed by the architect Alexander Koltchin and sculptor Yuri Neroda.


The Monument to the Revolution (Spanish: Monumento a la Revolución) is a landmark and monument commemorating the Mexican Revolution.  It is located in Plaza de la República, near to the heart of the major thoroughfares Paseo de la Reforma and  Avenida de los Insurgentes in downtown Mexico City.


CBL is ranked fourth of all sports  league in India with a prize money of 5.9 crore.


WikiWeb_Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery_1

According to its 1833 chronicle, the monastery was built in 1020 by the Bulgarian clergyman John of Debar who was the last Patriarch of Bulgaria before the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire. The Ottomans destroyed the monastery in the 16th century, but it was restored in 1743 by the monk Ilarion, who also constructed a number of cells for monks.  The archimandrite Arsenius further expanded the monastery between 1812 and 1825. The historical record also mentions a monk Iov, recognized by some researchers as the future educator Yoakim Karchovski, a Bulgarian priest who became an important figure in the Bulgarian National Revival.
Most of the old monastery complex was destroyed by a fire in 2009, while the new sections of the complex and church were saved. Reconstruction of the old sections began in May 2010 with the goal of restoring the buildings as closely as possible to their original style.


WikiWeb_Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery_2

The monastery has a large collection of holy relics including John the Baptist, Clement of Ohrid, Lazarus of Bethany, Saint Stephen, Saint Nicholas, Saint Barbara, Paraskevi of Rome, Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha, and part of the Holy Cross.
Another valuable monastery treasure is an icon dating from 1020 with supposedly miraculous healing power.


The Sar Pass is in Parvati Valley of Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, a state of India.
Sar, in the local dialect, means a lake. While trekking across the path from Tila Lotni to Biskeri Ridge, one has to pass by a small, usually frozen lake (Sar) and hence the name Sar Pass Trek.


The nearest airport Bhuntar Airport (IATA code KUU) is at Bhuntar town, situated on NH21 about 32.3 km (20.1 mi) south of Rumsu and 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Kullu town.  The airport is also known as Kullu-Manali airport and has more than a kilometre long runway. Air India and some private airlines have regular flights to the airport. Recently Himalayan Bulls in collaboration with Deccan Charters have started flights on Kullu-Chandigarh-Kullu sector three times a day. Daily flight service (except Tuesday) has been started by 15 May 2013 at Bhunter airport by Air India from Delhi to Bhuntar and vice versa.
Chandigarh Airport is the nearest international airport.


In 1907, whiskey millionaire Edson Bradley built a French-Gothic mansion on the south side of Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. It covered more than half a city block, and included a Gothic chapel with seating for 150, a large ballroom, an art gallery, and a 500-seat theatre—90 feet by 120 feet, and several stories tall, completed in 1911—known as Aladdin's Palace.
In 1923, Bradley began disassembling his Washington, D.C. mansion and relocating it to a Newport property at Ruggles and Wetmore avenues. "Sea View", the 1885 Elizabethan-Revival mansion already on the site, was incorporated into the design, and lent its name to the new chateau. Work on the exterior continued for two years, and required the use of many railroad cars and trucks. Rooms that had been imported intact from France and installed in Washington, D.C. twenty years earlier were moved again and reassembled in Newport, and the new building was constructed around them. When the interiors were completed in 1925, there were 17 rooms on the first floor, 25 on the second, and 12 on the third. It is believed to have been one of the largest buildings to be moved in this manner.
Seaview Terrace cost over $2,000,000 to build. The main house featured turrets, stained-glass windows, high arching doorways and, in keeping with its seaside location, shell motifs. The American League of Architects awarded Bradley's architect, Howard Greenley, a 1928 medal for the chateau.
Bradley's wife, Julia Williams Bradley, died in August 1929, and her funeral was held in the house's chapel.  Edson Bradley spent five more summers at the mansion before his death in 1935.
The Bradleys' daughter, Julie Bradley Shipman, took over the estate and lived there until 1941. Her  husband, the Right Reverend Herbert Shipman, Episcopal Bishop of New York, died in 1930. She vacated the house after a dispute with the City over non-payment of three years' back taxes. During World War II, the house was used by the U.S. Army as officers' quarters. In 1949 the property was sold for only $8,000.


In 1950, the property became an exclusive all-girl summer boarding school, and was renamed "Burnham-by-the-Sea". The house was owned and the summer school run by Mr. and Mrs. George Waldo Emerson. During the academic year, Mrs. Emerson was a headmistress for the Mary Burnham School for Girls in Northampton, Massachusetts.
In 1968, the Mary Burnham School merged with the Stoneleigh Prospect Hill School to become the Stoneleigh-Burnham School, but the summer school continued to be run by the Emersons until they sold Seaview Terrace. During the regular school year, the school operated as Newport School for Girls. In 1971 and 1972, Seaview Terrace also was home for The New School, grades 2 through 8. Headmaster for the New School was Fr. Toller Cranston.
Filming
From 1966 to 1971, the Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows used Burnham-by-the-Sea as the exterior set for the fictional Collinwood Mansion, which in turn inspired the depiction of the Kingston Mansion in the "What the Hex Is Going On?" episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.
During the summer of 1973 the movie The Great Gatsby was filmed next door. All the children at the school, who had a 9 pm curfew, spent the evenings listening to the filming of the cars driving up and down the old Oelrichs property, Rosecliff.


In 1974, Millicent and Martin T. Carey of New York, purchased the mansion. Being one of the largest of Newport's mansions, the Careys were faced with large costs for upkeep. The main house and gatehouse were leased to Salve Regina University, which renamed it the Carey Mansion. The former stables were also leased as a dormitory for Salve Regina, which renamed it "Seaview". The mansion's Drawing Room, used by the university for performances and practice, was renamed Cecilia Hall, for the patron saint of music (Saint Cecilia). During the 1980s Seaview Terrace housed the American syndicate of the America's Cup.
On August 31, 2009, Salve Regina University terminated the lease with the Carey family. The Careys' daughter, Denise Anne Carey, an architect from New York, currently lives there.
The Syfy network featured the mansion in the first season, second episode of its paranormal reality show Stranded on March 6, 2013. Seaview Terrace was featured on Travel Channel's Ghost Nation, on October 31, 2020.
Seaview Terrace is privately owned and is not open for tours or tourist visits.


Cecilia Hall features a whispering gallery, an elliptical room reminiscent of Saint Paul's Cathedral, in which a person standing at one of the foci can hear the slightest whisper uttered at the other.


The Flagellation (circa 1544–47) was an early-Renaissance stained-glass window designed for Milan Cathedral. It was part of a series portraying the Passion of Christ, and believed to have been made in the workshop of Currado Mochis da Colonia. The window was bought by Edson Bradley for the house when it was located on Dupont Circle, and may have once been owned by Stanford White.


Carey Mansion has never throughout its history had any sort of rigid fencing or wall surrounding the property. There are two main gateposts, but around most of the rest of the property a decorative hedge is used, rather unsuccessfully, to keep people away, making it the largest of its kind in Newport with such a characteristic. There is a short length of five foot (1.5 meter) high fencing along the western edge dividing the property from Fairlawn (AKA Salve's Young Building). The fence runs between the Fairlawn carriage house and Seaview's gate house from Ruggles Avenue to approximately 150 feet from the southwestern corner of the Seaview property.


The Shrine of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic parish established in 1899 in the Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C. The parish church is a large domed Byzantine structure modeled after the Cathedral in Ravenna, Italy.
The current church is actually the second that the Shrine of the Sacred Heart community has called home. The original red brick structure was dedicated in 1901, and the current structure in 1922. Both buildings were influenced by the City Beautiful architectural movement which overtook Washington from 1901 to 1910.
The parish was originally part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore before the establishment of the Diocese of Washington in 1923. The diocese was elevated to an archdiocese in 1939.


The church is located at 3211 Sacred Heart Way (formerly Pine Street, NW), nestled in between the Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights regions of the District of Columbia, just off 16th Street Northwest, for a long time a de facto dividing line in the tensely racially divided Washington in the decades after the city's 1968 riots.
The original parish church was located at the corner of 14th Street and Park Road, Northwest (current site of the Tivoli Theater), and the current church was established in the 1920s. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Murphy and Olmsted, and the architectural sculptor was John Joseph Earley. Incorporated into the design is Earley's innovative technique of beautifying concrete by infusing the mixture with fragmented quartz stones, then scraping away the surface of the concrete during drying to further expose the stones as the concrete sets. The same technique can be seen in Earley's work at Meridian Hill Park, a half-mile south. This technique is today known as the Mo-Sai Technique.
Local tradition holds that the church was built on a spur off 16th Street because the artery was home to many mainline Protestant churches, whose leaders objected to a Roman Catholic church joining them on 16th Street, long the home of high-profile religious institutions in Washington. Locals also pass on a similar as-yet-unverified story for the mansion and property next door to the church, which houses a branch of the DC Department of Recreation, supposedly because a previous owner donated it to the city out of a fear that it would eventually fall into Catholic hands if it was sold to another private owner.
Though the church was built by wealthy patrons, who reportedly raised the funds in three weeks, it is now spiritual home to many lower-income immigrant families, largely Latin American, with a particular concentration of Salvadoran-Americans. The parish regularly celebrates Mass in Spanish, English, Haitian Creole, and Vietnamese. For vigil Masses on Holy Thursday, Easter, and Christmas, the church encourages all communities to celebrate together and the vigil Mass is said in four languages.
The church is administered by priests of the Franciscan Capuchin Order. The current pastor is Fr. Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap. In July 2010, Fr. Stephen Carter announced that he would be succeeded as pastor by Fr. Moises, and upon his installation, Villalta became the first Salvadoran-American pastor in the history of the diocese.
Among clergy who have served the parish is the late Deacon James W. Quander, who was in the first class of permanent deacons in the Archdiocese of Washington (or anywhere). He was also one of the longest-living juvenile diabetics in the nation.. The disease, also known as Type 1 diabetes, was diagnosed when he was 5. In 1925, he was among the first to use insulin. Deacon and Mrs. Quander's children were the first African-American students admitted to Sacred Heart School.


The parish has a long history of social justice ministry, and has been the frequent host of the District's labor Mass on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, as well as the home of the Hermano Pedro homeless outreach program and the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Dinner Program, and is affiliated with local social service organizations such as the Spanish Catholic Center and Neighbors Consejo. The parish houses large devotions to Our Lady of Guadalupe (Sacred Heart hosts her feast day December 12 for the entire archdiocese) and Saint Óscar Romero, the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, though the movement to beatify and possibly canonize Romero appeared stalled until May 2013, when the postulator for his case announced that it was "unblocked."  Romero was subsequently canonized in October 2018.
Several dozen flags hang from the church's choir loft, representing the nations of birth and ancestry for the highly diverse congregation.


The church has a parish school, though it no longer retains full control of the PK-to-8 institution. For most of its history, the school was staffed  by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, before gradually evolving into a school staffed by laypersons, like many Catholic schools in the late twentieth century. Among its most famous alums was actress Helen Hayes, widely known as the "First Lady of American Theater."
In the late 1990s, the church realized it could no longer adequately finance the school, a fate shared by several inner-city Washington parishes, despite the continued popularity of Catholic education in a city in need of alternatives to a struggling public school system. In 1997, then-archbishop James Cardinal Hickey established the Center City Consortium, subsidizing these schools from a general archdiocese fund, pooling their resources, and sharing their costs. The archdiocese has direct fiscal oversight over these schools. Sacred Heart's priests still minister to the school spiritually. The Sacred Heart School continues to receive praise and honors, even as several of these Consortium schools continue to be threatened. It is one a very few United States Catholic parish schools operating with a bilingual curriculum.


Tardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two-and-a-quarter-mile (3.6 km) stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 220 feet (67 m), and lies between the Tardebigge tunnel (580 yards or 530 metres long) to the North and the Stoke Prior flight of six narrow locks to the South. The Tardebigge Engine House is also on this stretch.


The top lock has a rise of eleven feet, unusually high for a single lock. This lock was built to replace an experimental vertical boat lift. The canal had been constructed and open from Birmingham to the wharf (now known as the Old Wharf) north of Brockhill Lane bridge by 30 March 1807 without the need for locks.
After the Old Wharf, the Tardebigge tunnel runs through the solid rock to the New Wharf, just above Lock 58, the topmost lock in the flight. The canal company was concerned with the expense of the 58 locks needed to take the canal down to the River Severn at Worcester.
The Tardebigge vertical lift was invented by John Woodhouse and installed at his own expense, with excavation and masonry provided by the company. Finished on 24 June 1808, it was housed in a covered shed and used a fixed counterweight of bricks, connected by a set of eight parallel chains and pulleys. Lifting was performed by two men using a windlass. The 64-ton wooden caisson (lifting chamber) was sealed at each end by guillotine gates, as was the lock chamber. It succeeded in lifting 110 boats in 12 hours but was considered too fragile for permanent use. The remainder of the canal was built with locks, and the lift was replaced by one in 1815. The lift mechanism has gone but the outline of its balancing pit may be seen near the lock keeper's cottage.
Close to lock number 57, the second from the top, is the Tardebigge Engine House, built to pump water up from Tardebigge Reservoir, which is about 50 feet (15 m) below the level of the top pound. The original steam engine has been removed, and the building has since been reused as a restaurant and night club at various times. It was converted into four residential apartments in 2012. The reservoir was one of a number of water supplies for the canal.
There is a detailed history by Revd Alan White in his book The Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
In 1992 lock 58 and several of the surrounding structures including the side pond and sluice, lock cottage and bridge were designated as listed buildings.


The Teapot Dome Service Station is a former gas station built in the shape of a teapot located in Zillah, Washington, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


Located at 117 First Avenue, the station is an example of novelty architecture. It was intended as a reminder of the Teapot Dome Scandal that rocked the presidency of Warren G. Harding and sent Interior Secretary Albert Fall to prison for his role in leasing government oil reserves in, among other places, Teapot Dome, Wyoming.


The station was built in 1922 on what later became U.S. Route 12. The building has a circular frame with a conical roof, sheet metal "handle", and a concrete "spout". Many such novelties were constructed as roadside attractions as the national highway system in the United States expanded during the 1920s and 1930s. The unique service station continued operation as a full-service gas station for some years. When Interstate 82 was constructed near Zillah in 1978 the station was relocated less than a mile down the Yakima Valley Highway. After the gas station was closed in 2006, it was purchased by the city the following year, rehabilitated, and relocated in 2012 to 117 First Avenue. It now serves as Zillah's visitors center.


The Terry Park Ballfield (also known as the Park T. Pigott Memorial Stadium) is a historic site in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. The park is named after the family who donated the land in the 1920s. For years the stadium hosted Major League Baseball spring training, as well as a dozen years of Florida State League baseball. The stadium hosted the Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Kansas City Royals spring training through the years. Terry Park was also home to some early minor league baseball, most notably the Fort Myers Palms and Fort Myers Royals, both belonging to the Florida State League. Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Roberto Clemente, Jimmy Foxx, Bob Feller, Tris Speaker, and George Brett are some of the notable players who have played at Terry Park Field.


In 1921 the local Fort Myers Terry Family donated approximately 25 acres (100,000 m²) of cow pasture to Lee County. Amidst bulls and heifers, a small wooden grandstand seating no more than 600 fans was erected on the site about a mile east of downtown Fort Myers. The stadium was built as a spring training ballpark for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics in 1925. The park was the spring training home of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1925 until 1936, and the Cleveland Indians from 1940 until 1942. It was also the home of the minor league Fort Myers Palms in 1926. The stadium remained in its 1925 condition until 1943, when it was destroyed in a fire. However, in 1955 the park was rebuilt. This time, instead of wood, the stadium was made from steel and concrete.


The rebuilt Terry Park created an alliance between Fort Myers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. For years the Pirates wandered all over the country for a spring training location and were looking for a permanent spring training home. During a 12-year period the Pirates spent spring training in seven different locations: McCulloch Park in Muncie, Indiana; Flamingo Field in Miami Beach, Gilmore Field in Hollywood, California; Perris Hill Park in San Bernardino; Gran Stadium in Havana, Cuba; and Jaycee Park in Fort Pierce. Terry Park became their spring training home for the next 14 years, before moving to Bradenton's McKechnie Field in 1969.


In 1968 the Kansas City Athletics moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Oakland, California.  This change allowed Kansas City to receive a Major League expansion team. They received their team which was called the Kansas City Royals. Terry Field became the new spring training home for the team. The team's historic first exhibition game was played at Terry Field against the Montreal Expos. The Royals would remain in Fort Myers until 1987. During the Kansas City Royals years, the field featured artificial turf, similar to that of Royals Stadium. However several years after the Royals left for Baseball City, the turf left as well.
In 1988 the Royals left Fort Myers for Haines City. The City open offered the team a new stadium and opened up a theme park called Boardwalk and Baseball which was centered around a baseball theme.
The main attraction was going to be the Kansas City Royals spring training home, however the deal later proved to be a bust and by 2002 the park was abandoned and later completely demolished.


In 1978 the Kansas City Royals brought a minor league affiliate to Fort Myers, the team being called the Fort Myers Royals a Single A Florida State League franchise. The team played at Terry Field from 1978 until 1987. In 1985 the Royals won the Florida League Championship. Kevin Seitzer and Bret Saberhagen were members of the Fort Myers team and began their professional careers at Terry Park.


After the Royals left Fort Myers, a new spring training team was never fielded at the stadium. Two new stadiums were built in Fort Myers, Hammond Stadium was built for the Minnesota Twins and City of Palms Park was built for the Boston Red Sox. The last professional baseball team to call Terry Park home was the Fort Myers Sun Sox of the short lived Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989 and 1990. The league featured former MLB stars and was played during the winter months. The league folded in 1990. All SPBA playoff games were held at Terry Park, since the league's playoffs occurred during spring training.


The park pretty much still remained in its 1955 condition. On May 11, 1995 the ball field was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. The memorial stadium was dedicated to area resident, Park T. Pigott (1914–1972), in recognition of his lifetime of service, through sports, to the youth of this community. For the 2003 season Terry Park was used by the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast University while their new ballpark is being built at their Fort Myers campus.


Al Simmons
Lefty Grove
Jimmie Foxx
Mickey Cochrane
Babe Ruth
Frankie Frisch
Hack Wilson
Travis Jackson
Freddie Lindstrom


Ty Cobb
Eddie Collins
Zach Wheat
Rodgers Hornsby
Jim Bottomley
Dave Bancroft


Tris Speaker
Edd Roush
Rabbit Maranville
Mel Ott.


Hank Greenberg
Charlie Gehringer
Goose Goslin
Chuck Hafey


In 2004, the stadium was heavily hit by Hurricane Charley with damage from the storm causing the grandstand to be labeled "unsafe".
Later in the year, The Board of Lee County Commissioners approved a guaranteed maximum price of $701,697 for Compass Construction to tear down the old grandstand and build a new one. But instead of rebuilding the historic 5,000 seat grandstand, the city replaced it with a small 700 seat structure. This was despite the fact the park was given an official historic marker in 1995. Technically once a grandstand is demolished, the ballpark loses all of its historic significance, regardless of whether it is the same field. Only the old girders have been retained as the outline for a new grandstand which opened in 2005. Therefore, what stands at Terry Park now bears little resemblance to the original historical spring training location it once was. While the new grandstand is covered, it is much smaller and made of metal. Many residents felt it was most unfortunate the county decided not to try to save the classic grandstand. 2006 marked the centennial anniversary of Terry Park – at least the playing field portion of it. The new stadium currently seats about 900 people, as the additional bleachers down the foul lines have been removed. A spring training museum is also being considered for the park.


Today, over 160 college baseball teams from around the country use Terry Park in the month of March to begin their college season. The park is currently part of a multi-diamond facility serving various amateur levels of baseball. The facility sees year-round amateur baseball use. This property is part of the Lee County Multiple Property Submission, a Multiple Property Submission to the National Register.  Terry Park is used year-round for baseball leagues, tournaments, and special events. The facility has four lighted fields with spectator seating including a covered grandstand on the main field. The park is also equipped with batting cages near each field. Terry Park is currently being remodeled with new restrooms, concession area, press box and seating areas. The work will be done in phases to allow the park to operate as close to normal as possible.
In 2020, the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organisation in South Korea, managed by former Major Leaguer Matt Williams, held spring training at Terry Park, and the team stayed in Fort Myers extended by pandemic restrictions.


Thurstaston Hall is a country house in the village of Thurstaston, Wirral, Merseyside, England.  The house is built in stone and brick, it is in two storeys, and it has a U-shaped plan.  The oldest part, the west wing, was built in the 14th century, the central block dates from 1680, and the east wing was added in 1836. The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and the gate piers in the drive leading to the hall are designated Grade II.


The manor of Thurstaston was given to Robert de Rodelent by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, in 1070.  The original manor house was built on a moated site, and the manor passed during the following centuries to the Whitmore and Glegg families.  The oldest part of the present hall is the west wing, which dates from the 14th century, and was probably the cross wing of a great hall that formed the central part of the house at that time. The central block was built in 1680, and the east wing was added in 1836.


Thurstaston Hall has a U-shaped plan with a central block and two wings, and is in two storeys.  The 14th-century west wing is in stone.  On its east face are two blocked doorways with pointed arches, and on the gable end is a pointed window in the first floor with a hood mould and with stops carved with heads.  The west face has a chimney breast and a projection further to the west containing a datestone inscribed with the date 1680.  The central block is in brick with stone dressings, and has a symmetrical three-bay front.  In the centre is a bolection-moulded doorcase surrounded by unfluted Corinthian half-columns, and a broken pediment containing an armorial shield.  Above the doorway is an oval window, and the other windows on the front are mullioned and transomed. At the top of the front is a cornice with blind oval windows and finials. The east wing is in Elizabethan style. It contains mullioned windows and gabled half-dormers.  On the gable end is a bay window containing sashes.  At the rear of the hall are service rooms, closets, steps and passageways.


The entrance hall contains a fireplace with bolection moulding. Above this is a re-used 16th-century overmantel in Jacobean style with pilasters and arched panels. The main staircase is in the west wing, and has twisted balusters and flat-topped newels.  Two of the smaller rooms contain panelling with bolection moulding.  In the principal room of the east wing is a fireplace with Renaissance and Gothic features.


On the driveway to the north of the hall is a pair of stone gate piers dated 1733.  They have a cruciform plan, on each face are fluted pilasters, and on the south faces are niches and date panels.  At the tops of the piers are entablatures with pulvinated friezes that are surmounted by finials in the form of lions' heads (the Whitmore crest).


Thurstaston Hall was designated a Grade II* listed building on 15 November 1962, and on the same date the gate piers were designated Grade II.  Grade II* is the middle of the three grades of listing and is applied to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".  Grade II, the lowest grade, applies to buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest".  Hartwell et al in the Buildings of England series describe the hall as being "of charming appearance, tranquil and mellow".


The species generally blooms from early to midsummer, although when grown under ideal conditions, it has a very long flowering season and will even produce a few flowers in the middle of mild winters.
It can generally be grown where minimum temperatures are above −35 °C (−30 °F), in full sun to partial shade conditions, and requires little or no maintenance. It has no known serious insect or disease problems and can generally be grown in most well-drained soils. The plant may be propagated either by seed after the last frost, or by division after flowering.
Though not native to the United States, the species is still considered a valuable ground cover in certain garden settings (e.g., as part of English or cottage inspired gardens, as well as spring meadows where low growth and some color is desired in parallel with minimal care and maintenance while helping to crowd out noxious weeds once established and naturalised).
Numerous single- and double-flowered varieties are in cultivation, producing flat or spherical blooms in a range of sizes (1 to 6 cm or 3⁄8 to 2+3⁄8 in) and colours (red, pink and white). They are generally grown from seed as biennial bedding plants. They can also be purchased as plugs in Spring.
It has been reported to be mostly self-fertilizing, but some plants may be self-sterile.


Alpine bistort is a perennial herb that grows to 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) tall. It has a thick rhizomatous rootstock and an erect, unbranched, hairless stem. The leaves are hairless on the upper surfaces, but hairy and greyish-green below. The basal ones are longish-elliptical with long stalks and rounded bases; the upper ones are few and are linear and stalkless. The tiny flowers are white or pink in the upper part of the spike with five perianth segments, eight stamens with purple anthers and three fused carpels. The lower ones are replaced by bulbils. Flowers rarely produce viable seeds and reproduction is normally by the bulbils, which are small bulb-like structures that develop in the axils of the leaves and may develop into new plants. Very often, a small leaf develops when the bulbil is still attached to the mother plant. The bulbils are rich in starch and are a preferred food for rock ptarmigans (Lagopus mutus) and reindeer; they are also occasionally used by Arctic people. Alpine bistort flowers in June and July.


The saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew contains a kallikrein-like protease, used to paralyze and subdue its prey. The toxin is strong enough to kill small animals, up to sizes somewhat larger than the shrew itself, and results in painful bites to humans who attempt to handle the shrew. The venomous saliva is secreted from submaxillary glands, through a duct which opens at the base of the lower incisors, where the saliva flows along the groove formed by the two incisors, and into the prey. The toxin is very similar in structure to the one produced by the Mexican beaded lizard (Heloderma horridum) which independently developed its toxin from the same precursor protein.


B. major is part of the family Bombyliidae, with a reported 6000
species worldwide. The subfamily Bombyliinae contains approximately 1100 identified species. The genus Bombylius currently comprises around 450 described species.
B. major can be found from April to June throughout temperate Europe, North America and some parts of Asia, concentrated in the northern hemisphere. The species occurs across a variety of environments, from arid to moist.


The seeds contain 26–38% of borage seed oil, of which 17–28% is gamma-linolenic acid (GLA, an Omega-6 oil), the richest known source.
The oil also contains the fatty acids palmitic acid (10–11%), stearic acid (3.5–4.5%), oleic acid (16–20%), linoleic acid (35–38%), eicosenoic acid (3.5–5.5%), erucic acid (1.5–3.5%), and nervonic acid (1.5%).
The oil is often marketed as "starflower oil" or "borage oil" for use as a GLA supplement, although healthy adults typically produce ample GLA from dietary linoleic acid.
The leaves contain small amounts (2–10 ppm of dried herb) of the liver-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) intermedine, lycopsamine, amabiline, and supinine and the nontoxic saturated PA thesinine.  PAs are also present in borage seed oil, but may be removed by processing.
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has advised that honey from borage contains PAs, transferred to the honey through pollen collected at borage plants, and advise that commercial honey production could select for raw honey with limited PA content to prevent contamination.


Pliny the Elder and Dioscorides said that borage was the nepenthe (νηπενθές : nēpenthés) mentioned in Homer, which caused forgetfulness when mixed with wine.
Francis Bacon  thought that borage had "an excellent spirit to repress the fuliginous vapour of dusky melancholie."
John Gerard's Herball mentions an old verse concerning the plant: "Ego Borago, Gaudia semper ago (I, Borage, bring always joys)". He asserts:
Those of our time do use the flowers in salads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the mind. The leaves and flowers of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadness, dullness and melancholy, as Dioscorides and Pliny affirm. Syrup made of the flowers of Borage comfort the heart, purge melancholy and quiet the frantic and lunatic person. The leaves eaten raw engender good blood, especially in those that have been lately sick.


Bromus tectorum has been introduced to southern Russia, west central Asia, North America, Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Greenland. It was first found in the United States (where it is known as downy brome or cheatgrass) in 1861 in New York and Pennsylvania, and by 1928 B. tectorum had spread to all parts of the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska), except for Florida and portions of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. B. tectorum is most abundant in the Great Basin, Columbia Basin, and is part of the introduced species that replaced California native plants in the California Floristic Province's grasslands and other habitats. In Canada B. tectorum has been identified as an invasive weed in all provinces, and is extremely prevalent in Alberta and British Columbia .


In the US, it grows on rangelands, pastures, prairies, fields, waste areas, eroded sites, and roadsides. It is much reviled by ranchers and land managers.  B. tectorum seeds are also a critical portion of the diet of the chukar and grey partridge which have been introduced to the US. Intensive sheep browsing of B. tectorum in early spring has been used as a fire fuels reduction strategy in the hills adjacent to Carson City, Nevada. Because of rangeland fires and the invasion of Bromus tectorum, in 2010 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) considered the possibility of extending the protections of the Endangered Species Act to the greater sage-grouse. The primary focus of Secretarial Order 3336, signed in 2015 in response to the USFWS status review, was to reduce threats greater sage-grouse habitat by reducing the frequency and severity of rangeland fire. Specifically, Secretarial Order 3336 focused on how reducing B. tectorum could reduce the frequency and extent of rangeland fires. Since the review of the status of the greater sage-grouse by the USFWS in 2010 and the implementation Secretarial Order 3336 in 2015 the bulk of the research focusing on B. tectorum ecology and control has been completed.
Bromus tectorum has demonstrated a quantitative and qualitative response to recent and near-term changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Laboratory experiments have shown that above-ground biomass increased 1.5–2.7 gram per plant for every 10 part per million (ppm) increase above the 270 ppm pre-industrial baseline. On the qualitative side, rising carbon dioxide decreased the digestibility and potential decomposition of B. tectorum. In addition to stimulation of biomass, rising carbon dioxide may also increase the above ground retention of B. tectorum biomass by decreasing removal by animals or bacteria. Ongoing increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide may contribute significantly to B. tectorum productivity and fuel load with subsequent effects on wildfire frequency and intensity.
Bromus tectorum has been shown to benefit from endophytic colonization by morels (Morchella sextelata, M. snyderi) in western North America.


A majority of research in 2011-2017 has focused on the use of herbicides to control B. tectorum and their effect on native plant communities. When using herbicides to suppress winter annual grasses the two most important factors that influence success are application timing and residual soil activity. Application timing is split into three main categories: pre-emergence in the fall before Bromus tectorum germinates, early post-emergence in early spring when B. tectorum is a seedling, and late post-emergence in late spring after B. tectorum is mature.
To be most effective post-emergence application needs to be done as late in the spring as possible to ensure that the herbicide treatment hits the majority of the B. tectorum population. However, the late application puts the native perennial vegetation at risk as they may be coming out of dormancy. Herbicides with no residual soil activity are not generally used because they are only effective in the year of application. If the herbicide has no residual soil activity the herbicide must be applied post-emergence in the early spring, but pre-emergence application is preferred because pre-emergence application is less likely to harm the native vegetation.
Studies have suggested that herbicide usage may select for warm season grasses and decrease the abundance of cool season grasses. There are five main herbicides used to control B. tectorum: imazapic, rimsulfuron, tebuthiuron, glyphosate, and indaziflam. However, the bulk of the recent research has been done on glyphosate, indaziflam, and imazapic.
Glyphosate has no residual soil activity and must be used post-emergence, which limits its control of B. tectorum to one year. For effective control it must be applied to the same area for more than five years to get ahead of seed production to prevent recolonization. Imazapic is the herbicide most widely used by land managers for B. tectorum control. Of the herbicides listed it is also the most commonly studied. Imazapic is preferred because it can be applied both pre and post-emergence, is approved for rangeland use, and has residual soil activity that allows for one to two year control. Indaziflam is one of the newest herbicides, licensed in 2010. It has a residual soil activity of 2–3 years and its also useful against many other invasive grasses. Not only does it reduce the abundance and biomass of B. tectorum, but it also reduces the highly flammable litter that B. tectorum produces. In early trials it has consistently out competed imazapic. As of 2017, indaziflam has not been approved for use outside of residential and commercial properties.


Water availably has a large impact on the success of Bromus tectorum treatments. In years of high precipitation, B. tectorum recruitment and biomass will increase and may render the treatment ineffective. In most long-term B. tectorum studies precipitation differences between years are speculated to be the cause of variation in effectiveness. However, well-timed precipitation after herbicide application can increase the amount of herbicide that makes it into the soil. When herbicide is applied to an area and there is B. tectorum litter on the ground, much of the herbicide will be absorbed into the litter and some will adhere to the litter. The litter creates a blanket that B. tectorum can germinate under even after herbicide application. But if it rains shortly after herbicide application, some of the herbicide that is trapped in the litter can be released and work into the soil. The rain may also allow native species to over come herbicide impacts. Increased precipitation in early spring may increase the success of seeding by increasing the germination rate of native grasses and remove B. tectorum’s competitive advantage.


There is a positive correlation between native vegetation communities and biological soil crust (BSC). BSC is composed of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, and mosses living on the soil. In arid regions BSCs colonize the spaces in-between plants, increase the biodiversity of the area, are often the dominant cover, and are vital in ecosystem function. In addition to providing erosion control, BSC is vital for nutrient cycling and carbon fixing. Fire and trampling by cattle are the major threats to the BSC communities, and once disturbed it can take decades to centuries for BSC to reform.  A decline in the health of the BSC community serves as an early warning indicator for Bromus tectorum invasion. If the BSC community is healthy then it will impede B. tectorum germination and reduce the likelihood of invasion. However, if there is a disturbance in the biological soil crust and downy brome is able to establish, then B. tectorum will impede the recovery of the BSC community.
Native perennial grasses have roots that often reach four feet into the soil. These roots provide organic matter, which feeds the soil organisms, who assist in water and nutrient cycling in arid ecosystems and improve soil quality. Bromus tectorum has a shallow spreading root system, which makes it much more efficient at absorbing moisture from light precipitation episodes and disrupts nutrient cycling. Several studies have shown that native plant biomass, especially that of bunchgrasses, negatively effects B. tectorum cover and biomass, suggesting that a diverse native perennial community will be more resistant to B. tectorum invasion.
Studies have identified Poa secunda, Pseudoroegneria spicata, and Achnatherum thurberianum as key grasses for B. tectorum resistance. The life strategies of these three grasses differ in such a way that they provide constant interaction and competition with B. tectorum. P. spicata, and A. thurberianum are deep rooted and complete most of their growth in the late spring, and P. secunda is shallow rooted and completes most of its growth in the late winter and early spring.
Perennial grass ecosystems are less prone to burning. B. tectorum has been historically thought to create a positive feedback loop. However, Taylor et al. (2014) suggests that fire alone does not promote B. tectorum. If an area burns, the B. tectorum cover and biomass does not increase as was once thought, but recovers to previous levels. Increased fires, because of B. tectorum, may serve to maintain, not increase, the B. tectorum population by preventing the natives from establishing.


Unlike turkey vultures that do not normally prey on live animals, zone-tailed hawks are active predators. Therefore, some ornithologists believe that this mimicry tricks potential prey animals into not being alarmed when a zone-tail flies overhead. This hawk mainly preys on small birds and mammals (including bats, rats, mice, squirrels), but reptiles can be locally favored, including virtually any type of lizard, such as the common collared lizard, Yarrow's spiny lizard, the crevice spiny lizard, and the mesquite lizard. Among the rats preyed upon are the tawny-bellied cotton rat and the white-eared cotton rat. In the north, California quail, along with possibly other quail species, chipmunks, and other ground squirrels seemed to be the favorite prey. Other birds preyed upon include red-shafted flickers, acorn woodpeckers, eared quetzals, Steller's jays, yellow-rumped caciques, tropical kingbirds and even eastern screech owls. Zone-tails also eat various young birds, having been observed preying on nestlings and fledglings of species as varied as herons and passerines. Zone-tailed hawks snatch young birds from trees or the ground without landing. Second-hand reports of predation on frogs, other amphibians, and fishes may be cases of misidentification of common black-hawks. Zone-tailed hawks are very active foragers, hunting almost exclusively by transects and random quartering in low flight at around 10–30 m (33–98 ft) over the ground. When approaching the prey, the hawk may try to use obstructing cover such as trees until it is within 0.5–2 m (1.6–6.6 ft) of the prey, easy striking distance. Outside the breeding pair bond, these hawks are wholly solitary and are not known to hunt in pairs.


Adult rough-legged hawks will vocalize alarm calls when intruders approach a nesting site. It is described as a downward slurring whistle, sounding like kiu wiyuk or a lengthy descending kee-eer similar to that of the red-tailed hawk. This cry is given in flight or from a perch every 15–30 seconds. During courtship, both sexes have been recorded to give a whistling sound that changes to a hiss. Following copulation, females will give a cluck-like sound and males vocalize a whistling noise. Fledglings will give begging calls while waiting for parents to provide food.


These hawks use vocalizations for communication with their mates and offspring, and in territorial displays towards intruders such as red-tailed hawks or other threatening animals. Their call sounds like a very high-pitched kee-ee, almost like a whistle. When confronted with a threat, broad-winged hawks emit an alarm call consisting of stuttered and squealing whistles.


In Arizona, pairing and maximum dispersal is complete by mid-June. Nesting probably does not begin until early July. In Oklahoma, egg laying usually starts in late April. Completed clutches have been found as early as May 8. Egg laying occurs from March to
June in Texas and Mexico, and from April to September in New Mexico. Nests with eggs were reported as early as April 15 in New Mexico.
Scaled quail lay from 9 to 16 eggs; most clutches are 12 to 14 eggs. Eggs are incubated by the female for 21 to 23 days. Double-brooding (the production of two consecutive broods in one season) is common. In west Texas, Wallmo  observed the male rearing the first brood while the female began a second clutch. Sutton  stated, however, that scaled quail in Oklahoma are probably single-brooded, but have hatched broods as late as September 6. Ehrlich and others  also list scaled quail as single-brooded.
The precocial young leave the nest shortly after hatching. They are accompanied by at least one, usually both, parents, who show them how to find food. The young fledge rapidly (age at fledging not reported in the literature), and are adult size in 11 to 15 weeks.
Scaled quail are fairly sedentary. The winter home ranges of scaled quail coveys varied from 24 to 84 acres (9.7 to 34.0 ha). The home ranges of separate coveys overlap only slightly or not at all. From September to November scaled quail coveys maintain stable territories. In Arizona, 75 to 90% of a population apparently moved off of a breeding area by mid-November, moving to nearby mountain foothills. The mountain habitat was consistent with that found on the breeding area. In March the population on the breeding area increased again, with most birds in groups of four to eight.
The average winter covey size for scaled quail is around 30 birds, although coveys of up to 150 birds have been reported.


Calochortus catalinae produces long basal leaves and tall, branching stems up to 60 centimeters high.
The purple-tinted sepals are up to 3 centimeters long and the longer petals are usually white or very pale pink with a blotch of purple or deep red at the bases. The bowl of the petals may have sparse long hairs. The anthers are usually light in color, often pink.
They are also perennial.


Calochortus monophyllus is a North American species of flowering plants in the lily family known by the common name yellow star-tulip.
Calochortus monophyllus is endemic to California.  It is found in the foothill Interior oak woodland and yellow pine forest habitats of the Sierra Nevada and southernmost Cascades in California, from Shasta County to Tulare County.


The ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) is a species of broad-winged damselfly. One of about 150 species of Calopterygidae, it is found in the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, ranging west to the Great Plains. Other common names include black-winged damselfly.


The flowers produce both nectar and copious amounts of pollen which attract many insect visitors. They may be most commonly pollinated by hoverflies (Syrphidae). In Canada, beetles (Cantharidae, Nitidulidae, Coccinellidae, Chrysomelidae, Cerambycidae), thrips (Thripidae), bugs (Miridae), butterflies (Pieridae), sawflies (Tenthredinidae), bees (Apidae, Halictidae, Andrenidae), ants (Formicidae) and flies (Sepsidae, Sciomyzidae, Ephydridae, Syrphidae, Anthomyiidae, Tachinidae and Muscidae) have been observed to visit the leaves or flowers, many of which were found carrying Caltha pollen.
In addition to other forms of pollination, this plant is adapted to rain-pollination.
Caltha palustris is infertile when self-pollinated. Rather high fertility in crosses between sibling plants suggest that this phenomenon is genetically regulated by several genes. This regulation mechanism also occurs in Ranunculus and as far as known only in these two genera.


The pale-billed woodpecker is 37 cm (15 in) long and weighs 255 g (9.0 oz). It resembles the lineated woodpecker, but is larger and more robust. The adult is mainly black above with a pale bill, bushy crest, and white lines down the shoulders which almost meet in a V on its back. The throat is black and the rest of the underparts are white, heavily barred with black. The male has a red head and crest; the female is similar, but the crest and throat are black. The female can be distinguished from the lineated woodpecker by the absence of a white facial stripe.
This bird has a characteristic drumming with two quick powerful taps. Its calls include nasal rattles and a keeu keeu keeu keeu breeding call.


Two white eggs are laid in an unlined nest hole 3–30 m (9.8–98.4 ft) high in a tree and incubated by both sexes. The young hatch naked and are fed by both parents.
Pale-billed woodpeckers chip out holes, often quite large, while searching out insects in trees. They mainly eat beetle larvae, with some berries, lizards, or other fruit.
This bird has been adversely affected by deforestation in parts of its range.


It is found in southern Connecticut, southwestern Massachusetts, southeastern New York, New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, eastern West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, and in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.


The leaves of caraway are mildly toxic, with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea.


This species is found in the United States and Mexico, where it is found in coastal San Diego County, California and northwestern Baja California. In the United States, the distribution of this species is threatened by rampant coastal development, fire suppression, and activities along the international border. It is believed that of the extant occurrences in the United States, five have been extirpated and eight have last been seen only 30 years prior. In Baja California, this species is distributed along the Pacific coast from Tijuana to the vicinity of El Rosario. It is also found on Cedros Island.
This plant grows in coastal sage scrub, southern maritime chaparral and maritime succulent scrub habitats. Ceanothus verrucosus forms a post-fire alliance of vegetation that is present on slopes, ridges, and coastal terraces, often growing in association with chamise Adenostoma fasciculatum, bush-rue Cneoridium dumosum, California buckwheat Eriogonum fasciculatum, laurel sumac Malosma laurina, lemonade berry Rhus integrifolia, and mission manzanita Xylococcus bicolor. These communities are generally short-lived and are driven by periodic fire disturbance.


In Burmese cuisine, raw pennywort is used as the main constituent in a salad mixed with onions, crushed peanuts, bean powder and seasoned with lime juice and fish sauce. Centella is used as a leafy green in Sri Lankan cuisine, being the predominantly locally available leafy green, where it is called gotu kola. It is most often prepared as malluma, a traditional accompaniment to rice and vegetarian dishes, such as dal, and jackfruit or pumpkin curry. It is considered nutritious. In addition to finely chopped gotu kola plants, the gotu kola malluma may be eaten with grated coconut, diced shallots, lime (or lemon) juice, and sea salt. Additional ingredients are finely chopped green chilis, chili powder, turmeric powder, or chopped carrots. The Centella fruit-bearing structures are discarded from the gotu kola malluma due to their intense bitter taste. A variation of porridge known as kola kenda is also made with gotu kola in Sri Lanka. Gotu kola kenda is made with well-boiled red rice with some extra liquid, coconut milk first extract, and gotu kola purée. The porridge is accompanied with jaggery for sweetness. Centella leaves are also used in modern sweet pennywort drinks and herbal teas. In addition the leaves are served stir-fried whole in coconut oil, or cooked in coconut milk with garlic or dhal.
In Indonesia, the leaves are used for sambai oi peuga-ga, an Aceh type of salad, and is also mixed into asinan in Bogor. In Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, this leaf is used for preparing a drink or can be eaten in raw form in salads or cold rolls. In Bangkok, vendors in the Chatuchak Weekend Market sell it alongside coconut, roselle, chrysanthemum, orange and other health drinks. In Malay cuisine it is known as pegaga, and the leaves of this plant are used for ulam, a type of vegetable salad. C. asiatica is widely used in various Indian regional cuisines.
In Bangladesh and India (specifically in West Bengal), Centella is called Thankuni Pata and used in various dishes, one of the most appetising of which is the pakora-like snack called Thankuni Patar Bora; made of mashed Centella, lentils, julienne-ed onion and green chilli.


Until recently, biologists considered the red deer and elk or wapiti (C. canadensis) the same species, forming a continuous distribution throughout temperate Eurasia and North America. This belief was based largely on the fully fertile hybrids that can be produced under captive conditions.
Genetic evidence clearly shows the wapiti and red deer form two separate species.
Another member of the red deer group which may represent a separate species is C. corsicanus. If so, C. corsicanus includes the subspecies C. e. barbarus (perhaps a synonym of C. e. corsicanus), and is restricted to Maghreb in North Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature originally listed nine subspecies of red deer (Cervus elaphus): three as endangered, one as vulnerable, one as near threatened, and four without enough data to give a category (Data Deficient). The species as a whole, however, is listed as least concern. However, this was based on the traditional classification of red deer as one species (Cervus elaphus), including the wapiti. The common red deer is also known as simply red deer.
Selected members of the red deer species group are listed in the table below. Of the ones listed, C. e. hippelaphus and C. e. scoticus may be junior synonyms.
Cervus elaphus appeared in Europe by the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene around 800,000 years ago. These earliest forms belonged to the palaeosubspecies Cervus elaphus acoronatus. Other palaeosubspecies are known, including those belonging to C. elaphus rianensis from the Middle Pleistocene of Italy, C. elaphus siciliae from the late Middle and Late Pleistocene of Sicily.


The genome of Chelonia mydas was sequenced in 2013 to examine the development and evolution of the turtle body plan.


The brown-hooded gull (Chroicocephalus maculipennis) is a species of gull found in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Falkland Islands, and Uruguay. Its specific epithet, maculipennis, means 'spotted wings' (macula + penna). It is a white bird with a brown head and red beak and feet.


This species is widespread in SW, S and SE Europe (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Corsica, Croatia, France, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Belarus and Ukraine), and Turkmenistan.


Red matipo is a fast growing, early colonizing species, yet can also survive within dense forest understorey, and so it is therefore tolerant of varying environmental conditions, such as light. As it is found throughout the North, South and Stewart Islands, its climatic tolerance is also high, and once established can live within drought prone, and also frost prone, conditions. Red matipo grows well on most soil types. showed that on average, a high level of phosphorus in the soil is beneficial to red matipo’s growth, however it consistently persists at low phosphorus levels, and is altered little in comparison to other New Zealand native plants.


It breeds in much of sub-Saharan Africa from South Sudan and Ethiopia in the north to South Africa in the south.
It inhabits dry tropical forests, especially acacia and broad-leaved woodlands, and dense shrubland areas, where it is more often heard than seen despite the brightness of its plumage.


Pantherophis obsoletus is found west of the Mississippi River, from eastern and southern Iowa southward through Missouri and Arkansas to western Louisiana, westward to eastern Texas, northward through Oklahoma and eastern Kansas to southeastern Nebraska.
Aside from the usual variety that is black or has patches of black on a lighter background, color variations include
the Texas rat snake, a brown-to-black variant, often with tinges of orange or red, that can be found in southern Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.


The great tit was described under its current binomial name by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Its scientific name is derived from the Latin parus "tit" and maior "larger". Francis Willughby had used the name in the 17th century.
The great tit was formerly treated as ranging from Britain to Japan and south to the islands of Indonesia, with 36 described subspecies ascribed to four main species groups. The major group had 13 subspecies across Europe, temperate Asia and north Africa, the minor group's nine subspecies occurred from southeast Russia and Japan into northern southeast Asia and the 11 subspecies in the cinereus group were found from Iran across south Asia to Indonesia. The three bokharensis subspecies were often treated as a separate species, Parus bokharensis, the Turkestan tit. This form was once thought to form a ring species around the Tibetan Plateau, with gene flow throughout the subspecies, but this theory was abandoned when sequences of mitochondrial DNA were examined, finding that the four groups were distinct (monophyletic) and that the hybridisation zones between the groups were the result of secondary contact after a temporary period of isolation.
A study published in 2005 confirmed that the major group was distinct from the cinereus and minor groups and that along with P. m. bokharensis it diverged from these two groups around 1.5 million years ago. The divergence between the bokharensis and major groups was estimated to have been about half a million years ago. The study also examined hybrids between representatives of the major and minor groups in the Amur Valley where the two meet. Hybrids were rare, suggesting that there were some reproductive barriers between the two groups. The study recommended that the two eastern groups be split out as new species, the cinereous tit (Parus cinereus), and the Japanese tit (Parus minor), but that the Turkestan tit be lumped in with the great tit. This taxonomy has been followed by some authorities, for example the IOC World Bird List. The Handbook of the Birds of the World volume treating the Parus species went for the more traditional classification, treating the Turkestan tit as a separate species but retaining the Japanese and cinereous tits with the great tit, a move that has not been without criticism.
The nominate subspecies of the great tit is the most widespread, its range stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to the Amur Valley and from Scandinavia to the Middle East. The other subspecies have much more restricted distributions, four being restricted to islands and the remainder of the P. m. major subspecies representing former glacial refuge populations. The dominance of a single, morphologically uniform subspecies over such a large area suggests that the nominate race rapidly recolonised a large area after the last glacial epoch. This hypothesis is supported by genetic studies which suggest a geologically recent genetic bottleneck followed by a rapid population expansion.
The genus Parus once held most of the species of tit in the family Paridae, but morphological and genetic studies led to the splitting of that large genus in 1998. The great tit was retained in Parus, which along with Cyanistes comprises a lineage of tits known as the "non-hoarders", with reference to the hoarding behaviour of members of the other clade. The genus Parus is still the largest in the family, but may be split again. Other than those species formerly considered to be subspecies, the great tit's closest relatives are the white-naped and green-backed tits of southern Asia. Hybrids with tits outside the genus Parus are very rare, but have been recorded with blue tit, coal tit, and probably marsh tit.


The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird that has a typical length of 16 cm (6.3 in) and a mass of 24–39.5 g (0.85–1.39 oz). Females and young birds are coloured pale brown and grey, and males have brighter black, white, and brown markings. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the house sparrow is native to most of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, and a large part of Asia. Its intentional or accidental introductions to many regions, including parts of Australasia, Africa, and the Americas, make it the most widely distributed wild bird.
The house sparrow is strongly associated with human habitation, and can live in urban or rural settings. Though found in widely varied habitats and climates, it typically avoids extensive woodlands, grasslands, and deserts away from human development. It feeds mostly on the seeds of grains and weeds, but it is an opportunistic eater and commonly eats insects and many other foods. Its predators include domestic cats, hawks, and many other predatory birds and mammals.
Because of its numbers, ubiquity, and association with human settlements, the house sparrow is culturally prominent. It is extensively, and usually unsuccessfully, persecuted as an agricultural pest. It has also often been kept as a pet, as well as being a food item and a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Though it is widespread and abundant, its numbers have declined in some areas. The animal's conservation status is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.


The plumage of the house sparrow is mostly different shades of grey and brown. The sexes exhibit strong dimorphism: the female is mostly buffish above and below, while the male has boldly coloured head markings, a reddish back, and grey underparts. The male has a dark grey crown from the top of its bill to its back, and chestnut brown flanking its crown on the sides of its head. It has black around its bill, on its throat, and on the spaces between its bill and eyes (lores). It has a small white stripe between the lores and crown and small white spots immediately behind the eyes (postoculars), with black patches below and above them. The underparts are pale grey or white, as are the cheeks, ear coverts, and stripes at the base of the head. The upper back and mantle are a warm brown, with broad black streaks, while the lower back, rump and upper tail coverts are greyish brown.
The male is duller in fresh nonbreeding plumage, with whitish tips on many feathers. Wear and preening expose many of the bright brown and black markings, including most of the black throat and chest patch, called the "bib" or "badge". The badge is variable in width and general size, and may signal social status or fitness. This hypothesis has led to a "veritable 'cottage industry'" of studies, which have only conclusively shown that patches increase in size with age. The male's bill is black in the breeding season and dark grey during the rest of the year.
The female has no black markings or grey crown. Its upperparts and head are brown with darker streaks around the mantle and a distinct pale supercilium. Its underparts are pale grey-brown. The female's bill is brownish-grey and becomes darker in breeding plumage approaching the black of the male's bill.
Juveniles are similar to the adult female, but deeper brown below and paler above, with paler and less defined supercilia. Juveniles have broader buff feather edges, and tend to have looser, scruffier plumage, like moulting adults. Juvenile males tend to have darker throats and white postoculars like adult males, while juvenile females tend to have white throats. However, juveniles cannot be reliably sexed by plumage: some juvenile males lack any markings of the adult male, and some juvenile females have male features. The bills of young birds are light yellow to straw, paler than the female's bill. Immature males have paler versions of the adult male's markings, which can be very indistinct in fresh plumage. By their first breeding season, young birds generally are indistinguishable from other adults, though they may still be paler during their first year.


The house sparrow was among the first animals to be given a scientific name in the modern system of biological classification, since it was described by Carl Linnaeus, in the 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It was described from a type specimen collected in Sweden, with the name Fringilla domestica. Later, the genus name Fringilla came to be used only for the common chaffinch and its relatives, and the house sparrow has usually been placed in the genus Passer created by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.
The bird's scientific name and its usual English name have the same meaning. The Latin word passer, like the English word "sparrow", is a term for small active birds, coming from a root word referring to speed. The Latin word domesticus means "belonging to the house", like the common name a reference to its association with humans. The house sparrow is also called by a number of alternative English names, including English sparrow, chiefly in North America; and Indian sparrow or Indian house sparrow, for the birds of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. Dialectal names include sparr, sparrer, spadger, spadgick, and philip, mainly in southern England; spug and spuggy, mainly in northern England; spur and sprig, mainly in Scotland; and spatzie or spotsie, from the German Spatz, in North America.


The house sparrow originated in the Middle East and spread, along with agriculture, to most of Eurasia and parts of North Africa. Since the mid-19th century, it has reached most of the world, chiefly due to deliberate introductions, but also through natural and shipborne dispersal. Its introduced range encompasses most of North America (including Bermuda), Central America, southern South America, southern Africa, part of West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and islands throughout the world. It has greatly extended its range in northern Eurasia since the 1850s, and continues to do so, as was shown by its colonisation around 1990 of Iceland and Rishiri Island, Japan. The extent of its range makes it the most widely distributed wild bird on the planet.


The house sparrow has become highly successful in most parts of the world where it has been introduced. This is mostly due to its early adaptation to living with humans, and its adaptability to a wide range of conditions. Other factors may include its robust immune response, compared to the Eurasian tree sparrow. Where introduced, it can extend its range quickly, sometimes at a rate over 230 km (140 mi) per year. In many parts of the world, it has been characterised as a pest, and poses a threat to native birds. A few introductions have died out or been of limited success, such as those to Greenland and Cape Verde.
The first of many successful introductions to North America occurred when birds from England were released in New York City, in 1852, intended to control the ravages of the linden moth. In North America, the house sparrow now occurs from the Northwest Territories of Canada to southern Panama, and it is one of the most abundant birds of the continent. The house sparrow was first introduced to Australia in 1863 at Melbourne and is common throughout the eastern part of the continent as far north as Cape York, but has been prevented from establishing itself in Western Australia, where every house sparrow found in the state is killed. House sparrows were introduced in New Zealand in 1859, and from there reached many of the Pacific islands, including Hawaii.
In southern Africa, birds of both the European subspecies (P. d. domesticus) and the Indian subspecies (P. d. indicus) were introduced around 1900. Birds of P. d. domesticus ancestry are confined to a few towns, while P. d. indicus birds have spread rapidly, reaching Tanzania in the 1980s. Despite this rapid spread, native relatives such as the Cape sparrow also occur and thrive in urban habitats. In South America, it was first introduced near Buenos Aires around 1870, and quickly became common in most of the southern part of the continent. It now occurs almost continuously from Tierra del Fuego to the fringes of the Amazon basin, with isolated populations as far north as coastal Venezuela.


Found in extremely diverse habitats. The flat-tailed horned lizard occurs in areas of fine sand, while the short-horned lizard (P. douglasii) is found in shortgrass prairie all the way up into spruce-fir forest. The most common species in the Arizona Upland subdivision is the regal horned lizard (P. solare), which frequents rocky or gravelly habitats of arid to semiarid plains, hills and lower mountain slopes. The desert horned lizard (P. platyrhinos) is found mostly in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. It can be found in southeastern Oregon, California, western Arizona Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Outside of the United States it is found in Mexico, northwestern Sonora, and northeastern Baja California. They have a preference for places that they can find shrub covering with an understory. Phrynosoma platyrhinos will often bury themselves in sand soil, if possible, or they will live in burrows that were constructed by other animals.


Although of Asian origin, the weed is widely found in all tropical regions of the world. In the United States, it is found in southern states such as Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Texas. It is a warm-season, annual, broadleaf weed that emerges from warm soils beginning in early summer. It reproduces by seeds, which are found in the green, warty-like fruit attached to the underside of the branch


The largest part of the limber pine's range is in the Rocky Mountains, from southwest Alberta and southeastern British Columbia south through Colorado and New Mexico into the northern states of Mexico. It is also found through the Great Basin states of Nevada and Utah, in the eastern Sierra Nevada and White Mountains of Northern California, and in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Continuing south the species is found in the San Jacinto Mountains, Santa Rosa Mountains, and Hot Springs Mountain of the Peninsular Ranges. There are small disjunct populations in eastern Oregon, in western North Dakota and Nebraska, and in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is found at a wide range of altitudes depending on the latitude, from 850 to 3,810 m (2,790 to 12,500 ft). In the northern half of its range, it grows in the montane zone near the lower tree line; in the middle of its range between the 45th and 40th parallels, it grows on windswept sites in the montane and subalpine zones; and in the southern part of its range, it grows mainly at high elevations in the subalpine zone near the upper tree line. It can more often be found at the outer fringes of a forest than in the forest itself.


Pinus ponderosa is affected by Armillaria, Phaeolus schweinitzii, Fomes pini, Atropellis canker, dwarf mistletoe, Polyporus anceps, Verticicladiella, Elytroderma needlecast and western gall rust.


In 1760, French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the black-capped chickadee in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Canada. He used the French name La mésange a tête noire de Canada and the Latin Parus Canadensis Atricapillus. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the 12th edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the black-capped chickadee. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Parus atricapillus and cited Brisson's work. The type location was subsequently restricted to the site of Quebec in Canada. The specific epithet atricapillus is Latin for 'black-haired' from ater 'black' and capillus 'hair of the head'.
Though originally placed in the genus Parus with most other tits, mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data and morphology suggest that separating Poecile more adequately expresses these birds' relationships. The genus Poecile had been introduced by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the black-capped chickadee is sister to the mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli).
At one time, the black-capped chickadee was considered by some to be conspecific with the willow tit of Eurasia, due to their very similar appearance. This is reflected in an older version of the Peterson Field Guide for the Birds of Britain and Europe, which states "N Am. Black-Capped Chickadee" as an alternate name for the willow tit. In fact, the willow tit, black-capped chickadee, marsh tit, and Carolina chickadee are all very similar to one another in appearance. Nine subspecies are recognised.
The chickadee was known as kejegigilhasis by the Penobscot people speaking the Abenaki language.


The black-capped chickadee is the state bird of Maine and Massachusetts and the provincial bird of New Brunswick. In 2014, the black-capped chickadee was named the official bird of Vancouver for 2015. In 2022 the black-capped chickadee was named the official bird of Calgary, Alberta. The bird is prominently featured on the standard Maine license plate, as well as welcome signs on major roadways in Massachusetts.