Eina

September 5th, 2008

Eina is a village in Vestre Toten municipality, Oppland, Norway. The population is 677 . The village is one of the destinations on the railroad track Gjøviksbanen, between Jaren and Raufoss. Eina is located a mere 12 km south of Raufoss, and has its center just north of Einavatnet (or Einafjorden). From Einavatnet comes the river Hunnselva which travels north to Mjøsa. Some 1,500 people inhabit the area surrounding the lake, not including Eina.

Picture of Eina facing south. <a href=The lake seen is Einavatnet; the railroad track is that of Gjøviksbanen.” src=”http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Eina.jpg/250px-Eina.jpg” width=”250″ height=”188″ border=”0″ class=”thumbimage” />


Picture of Eina facing south. The lake seen is Einavatnet; the railroad track is that of Gjøviksbanen.

History

The area has been populated since before the early 11th century, but did not see significant growth until the Norwegian industrialization. This was due to the railroad line Gjøviksbanen being built, which brought passengers and freight to and through the village. In 1902, the local railroad station stood ready, and in 1908 Eina would become a municipality on its own when Vestre Toten split into three (Eina, Kolbu and Vestre Toten). At this time, Eina had 1,173 inhabitants, and was experiencing significant economic growth. In 1964, Eina merged with Vestre Toten, by then having grown to 1,591 inhabitants.

Valdresbanen

Eina was also connected to Valdresbanen, another railroad line, until it closed.

Valdresbanen was built in 1906, and was originally a privately owned line, until the government assumed control in 1937. It covered the distance from Eina to Fagernes, which is located in Nord-Aurdal. The track was 109 km long, and was closed in 1988.

nc-2000 and nicecall

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute

September 5th, 2008

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute
Part of the Sengoku period
Date 1584
Location Owari Province, Japan
Result Tokugawa victory
Belligerents
forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Commanders
Hori Hidemasa
Ikeda Tsuneoki
Mori Nagayoshi
Mizuno Tadashige
Sakai Tadatsugu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Casualties and losses
Ikeda Tsuneoki
Ikeda Motosuke
Mori Nagayoshi

The Battle of Komaki and Nagakute (????????? Komaki-Nagakute no Tatakai?) consisted of two battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had both served Oda Nobunaga and had not previously come into conflict; this would in fact be their only period of enmity. The battle is also sometimes referred to as the Komaki Campaign (???? Komaki no Eki).

Contents

  • 1 Background
  • 2 Order of Events
    • 2.1 Battle of Haguro
    • 2.2 Mission to Mikawa
    • 2.3 Battle of Iwasaki Castle
    • 2.4 Battle of Hakusanmori
    • 2.5 Battle of Hinokigane
    • 2.6 Battle of Nagakute
  • 3 Aftermath
  • 4 Names for the Battle
  • 5 References

Background

In 1583, at the Battle of Shizugatake, Hideyoshi supported Nobukatsu, the second son Oda Nobunaga, and defeated Shibata Katsuie, who was supported by Nobunaga’s third son, Nobutaka. After the battle, Hideyoshi invited Nobukatsu and other generals to his residence at Osaka Castle, which he had just completed that same year. The meaning of such an invitation was for all the men to pay homage to Hideyoshi, which would reverse the roles between Hideyoshi and Nobukatsu. Therefore, Nobukatsu broke his bonds to Hideyoshi and did not go to Osaka Castle. Hideyoshi offered reconciliation to three of Nobukatsu’s chief retainers (Tsugawa Yoshifuyu, Okada Shigetaka and Azai Nagatoki), which led to rumors that they were all in support of Hideyoshi, which lead to Nobukatsu becoming paranoid and executing the three men on the sixth day of the third month. These actions gave Hideyoshi the justification for attacking Nobukatsu and, in response, Nobukatsu went to Ieyasu for auxiliary forces. The next day, when Ieyasu sent his forces out to battle, it became a battle between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu.

Order of Events

The first of these battles was fought around Mount Komaki and gave rise to the name “Battle of Komaki.” The rest of the battles took place around Nagakute, giving rise to the modern-day names for the conflict.

Battle of Haguro

Inuyama Castle on a cliff


Inuyama Castle on a cliff

On the thirteenth day of the third month, Ieyasu arrived at Kiyosu Castle. On that same day, warriors of the Oda clan’s vassals who were led by Ikeda Tsuneoki switched to the side of Hideyoshi and took over Inuyama Castle, which had originally been built by Oda Nobunaga. Ieyasu was upset upon hearing this news and rushed to Inuyama Castle, arriving two days later. At the same time, Mori Nagayoshi began his attempt for the castle. (Nagayoshi was the brother of Mori Ranmaru, who died at the Incident at Honn?-ji with Nobunaga.) Despite fierce arquebus fire from Mori’s men, Sakai succeeded at flanking and attacking Mori in the rear. Mori fled, having suffered 300 casualties.

On the sixteenth day of the month, forces called to support Inuyama Castle arrived in Haguro. Ieyasu, however, had already known of these plans and had Sakai Tadatsugu and Sakakibara Yasumasa move 5,000 troops to Haguro that same evening. Early the following morning, Tadatsugu’s troops launched a surprise attack on Nagayoshi, whose troops barely escaped after the onslaught. On the eighteenth, without fear of raids from enemies, Ieyasu took over Inuyama Castle and finished the protections that had first been built up by Hideyoshi.

Mission to Mikawa

Hideyoshi and his troops left his fortifications at Osaka Castle on the 21st day of the month, arriving at Inuyama Castle on the 27th day, and in Gakuden (present-day Inuyama) on the fifth day of the following month. Ieyasu, between entering Komakiyama Castle and arriving in Gakuden, had stayed away from battle, except for a few smaller skirmishes here and there. Hideyoshi was lulled into complacency by this situation, aided by Tsuneoki, who said to him, “Ieyasu is now in Komakiyama Castle. He is away from his main base in Okazaki and if we were to move our arms against him, we will certainly win.” The ambitious Hideyoshi decided to set out for Mikawa, along with the support of Nagayoshi (who had regained his reputation at the Battle of Haguro), Tsuneoki (who was embarrassed by his daughters marriage) and the young Hidetsugu (17yo, at the time). Toyotomi Hidetsugu was able to amass 8,000 men, which were supported by Hori Hidemasa’s 3,000 men, Mori Nagayoshi’s 3,000 men and Tsuneoki’s 6,000 men. On the following day, they all set out for Mikawa.

Battle of Iwasaki Castle

The Battle of Iwasaki Castle was fought between the forces of Niwa Ujishige and Ikeda Tsuneoki. Though it was just part of overall Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, it played an important role in the outcome.

On the seventh day of the month, Ieyasu learned of Hidetsugu’s encampment at Shinogi (modern-day Kasugai) through the information provided by farmers in Iga Province. He entered into Obata Castle (Moriyama-ku, Nagoya) the following day and chose to pitch camp for the evening. Early the next morning, he sent both the Niwa clan and the forces of Sakakibara Yasumasa to chase after Hidetsugu, and followed shortly thereafter with his own. Hidetsugu resumed his march on the eighth after hearing of Ieyasu’s entrance to Obata Castle, but on the next morning, the situation changed very rapidly. Ikeda Tsuneoki led the attack of Iwasaki Castle (modern-day Nisshin) and was promptly shot off of his horse. Embarrassed by his fall, Tsuneoki forgot about the hit-and-run tactics and started a full assault on the castle. Though the defenders fought well, the castle fell.

During the battle, Mori Nagayoshi, Hori Hidemasa and Hidetsugu all rested their forces at the modern-day cities of Owariasahi, Nagakute and Nisshin, waiting for the oncoming forces, as Ieyasu was closing in on them.

Battle of Hakusanmori

At the time that Ikeda Tsuneoki was shot and fell from his horse at Iwasaki Castle, Toyotomi Hidetsugu moved his forces to Hakusanmori (present-day Owariasahi) to rest, but it was there that he met the forces of Ieyasu and Sakakibara Yasumasu. Hidetsugu’s forces were pretty much destroyed by Ieyasu’s surprise attack. Hidetsugu himself was knocked from his horse, but was able to get another horse and escape. It was at this battle that many members of the Kinoshita clan (including Sukehisa, the father of Hideyoshi’s wife, Nene) died.

Battle of Hinokigane

Following the battle of Hakusanmori, Tokugawa fortified Mt. Komaki, creating a stalemate there. Thus, Ikeda Nobuteru, one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s chief commanders, decided to begin raids through neighboring Mikawa Province with an army numbering 20,000. Tokugawa expected this and led a force to follow Hideyoshi’s. Mizuno Tadashige led Tokugawa’s rearguard against Ikeda’s force and the noise of the battle alerted Hori Hidemasa, the head of one of Hideyoshi’s divisions.

Hori Hidemasa led his men to the defense of his comrades, taking up position in the village of Nagakute. He held off the initial Tokugawa attacks, but was forced to withdraw as the main body of the Tokugawa army, numbering some 9000 warriors, arrived.

Battle of Nagakute

The battle proper began as Ikeda’s men opened fire with their arquebuses and then charged the Ii clan’s divisions of the Tokugawa force. Mori Nagayoshi, another of Hideyoshi’s commanders, waited until Tokugawa moved in to support the Ii, so that he could flank them. However, Tokugawa charged forward, rather than swinging around, and avoided the flanking maneuver. Mori Nagayoshi was shot off his horse, which demoralized Ikeda’s force. Ikeda’s head was taken soon afterwards and, despite Hideyoshi’s arrival with reinforcements, Ieyasu decided to withdraw, unwilling to risk further casualties, and returned to Komaki.

Aftermath

When news of the loss at the Battle of Hakusanmori arrived in the afternoon, the 20,000 troops of Hideyoshi rushed to Ry?sen-ji, near the battle site. Later that evening, when they heard that Ieyasu was staying at Obata Castle, they decided to assault it the next morning; however, Honda Tadakatsu, leader of 500 of the men, was against such a move. During that time, Ieyasu had left Obata Castle, went to Komakiyama Castle and finally returned to Kiyosu Castle. Hideyoshi heard the news of Ieyasu’s departure shortly thereafter and, on the tenth day of the fourth month, left Gakuden; he arrived back at Osaka castle on the first day of the following month. On the 16th day of the sixth month, Takigawa Kazumasu attacked Ieyasu’s Kanie Castle, but was driven back. As a result, Kazumasu had his responsibilities taken from him and removed from Ieyasu’s group. On the ninth day of the ninth month, Sassa Narimasa, at the behest of Ieyasu, attacked Suemori Castle in Noto Province, forcing out its resident, Maeda Toshiie.

Names for the Battle

During the Edo period, the public records of the Tokugawa clan and the shogunate refer to these battles as Battle of Komaki (??? Komaki no Jin). However, there are also documents that refer to it as the Battle of Iwasakiguchi (?????? Iwasakiguchi no Tatakai). There are places where the fighting in Nagakute is called the Battle of Nagakute (????? Nagakute Gassen), but the two battles have generally been merged into one. Many other names have also been used to describe these battles, some of which separate the two, while the others keep them together. During the Meiji Restoration, the various Japanese words for battles, campaigns, etc., were mostly unified, leading to it sometimes being called the Komaki and Nagakute Campaign (???????? Komaki-Nagakute no Eki). Through all of this, though, “Battle of Komaki and Nagakute” has come to be the accepted name.

1971 cadillac fender skirts

Circles (Elkie Brooks album)

September 5th, 2008

Circles
Circles cover
Studio album by Elkie Brooks
Released 1995
Recorded 1995, Woody Bay Studio
Genre pop
Label Permanent
Elkie Brooks chronology
Nothin’ But the Blues
(1994)
Circles’
(1995)
Amazing
(1996)

Circles is an album by Elkie Brooks.

Recorded in 1995 in Brooks’s home studio Woody Bay, the album was designed to reflect her love of stripped-down acoustic music and demo format songs.

It was released on CD and cassette in the same year by Permanent Records, with no promotion and a small distribution. It was subsequently re-released on CD by Indellible Records.

Track listing

  1. “It All Comes Back On You” (Brooks, Murray)
  2. “Live A Little Get Somewhere” (Pete Gage)
  3. “Circles” (Robert Palmer)
  4. “Mercedes Benz” (Janis Joplin)
  5. “Can’t Find My Way Home” (Stevie Winwood, Jimmy Page)
  6. “Angel” (Jimi Hendrix)
  7. “Pearl’s a Singer” (Dino, Sembello, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)
  8. “Live in Peace” (Paul Rodgers)
  9. “Butterfly Bleu” (Iron Butterfly, Edmonson)
  10. “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry” (Malone)
  11. “Lilac Wine” (James Shelton)

rocking cherries betsey johnson

Melvin White

September 5th, 2008

Melvin Wayne White (January 25, 1950 – November 3, 2005) was a murderer executed by the U.S. state of Texas by lethal injection. He was convicted of the August 5, 1997 kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 9-year-old Jennifer Lee Gravell.

Contents

  • 1 Crime
  • 2 Trials and appeals
  • 3 Execution
  • 4 In Movies
  • 5 See also
  • 6 References

Crime

On the night of August 4, 1997, there was a barbecue in the neighborhood of Ozona, Texas where Gravell and White both lived. Some time between 10:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Gravell went to the home of White, who lived two houses down the street from her. She was looking for someone to go for a ride with. He kidnapped her and took her in his truck to a rest area out of the city. There he sexually assaulted her, but she resisted, so White bound her arms behind her back with electrical tape and gagged her with a sock. He would later admit to penetrating her with his finger. He fled the rest area with Gravell after another car arrived. After taking her to another location he killed her by repeatedly striking her head with a tire iron. He dumped her body behind a water tank in a field outside of town.

Trials and appeals

After witnesses reported they had seen White leave his home with a young girl in the passenger seat of his truck, he was arrested and immediately confessed to the crime. He told police where Gravell’s body could be found. In a trash can at White’s home, underpants, sandals, and a ball of electrical tape with her hair in it were found. On August 15 he was indicted for her capital murder. After being found guilty of Gravell’s capital murder on June 10, 1999, he was sentenced to death during the separate penalty phase of the trial on June 14.

As with all death sentences in Texas, it was automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which on January 31, 2001 upheld the sentence and conviction. White appealed for writ of habeas corpus to the trial court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and U.S. district court. All were denied. He also filed a motion for a certificate of appealability, which was likewise denied by various courts including the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In October 2005, his appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari was denied.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 6-0 on November 1 to recommend that Governor Rick Perry deny a 90 day stay or a commutation to life imprisonment, which Perry obliged.

It was revealed during the penalty phase of the trial that White had forced his own daughter to perform oral sex on him while penetrating her with his finger when she was 12-years-old. He also offered her US$50 per week to perform sexual favors for him. When White was between the ages of 10 and 12 he molested a pre-school aged relative. Witnesses also said that he would hold parties for teenagers in the area at which he provided alcohol, and where he would grope girls’ breasts.

White blamed alcoholism for his actions. He said that at the time of the murder he was drinking half a gallon (2 liters) of vodka every three days, and that did not include what he would drink in bars.

Execution

In his final statement, White said:

After this he recited Psalm 23 (”The Lord is my shepherd”) and then said “All right, warden, let’s give them what they want.”

During the injections he said that he could “taste it”. He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. CDT.

In Movies

In The Dark Knight, The Joker uses a pseudonym of Melvin White to lure to the apartment overlooking the mayor assassination.

See also

  • List of individuals executed in Texas
  • Capital punishment in Texas
  • Capital punishment in the United States

2008 sportster springer front end

Largest creative work

September 4th, 2008

The largest creative work is the largest or longest item in different fields of creative works. Some pieces were created with the specific intention of holding the record while others have be recognised for their size after completion.

Contents

  • 1 Media
    • 1.1 Literature
    • 1.2 Music
    • 1.3 Paintings and sculptures
    • 1.4 Theatre, film and television
  • 2 See also
  • 3 References

Media

Literature

A page from the largest general encyclopedia, the Yongle Encyclopedia.


A page from the largest general encyclopedia, the Yongle Encyclopedia.

  • The longest novel in Latin or Cyrillic alphabets is Henry Darger’s The Story of the Vivian Girls. The illustrated fantasy novel manuscript is typed single-spaced on 15,145 pages in 10 volumes. Discovered after Darger’s death, the manuscript has never been published. The total number of words has not been estimated; some believe this might be the longest novel ever written. The most conservative guess will put this in the million-word realm, possibly into tens of millions.
  • The largest known general encyclopedia is the Yongle Encyclopedia commissioned by the Chinese Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle in 1403. It comprised 22,877 manuscript volumes in 11,095 books occupying 40 cubic metres (1400 ft³), but has since disappeared.
  • The longest poem in any language is the Mahabharata, with more than 100,000 couplets.
  • The longest epic cycle is the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar, which contains over 20 million words in more than one million verses.

Music

  • The longest musical performance began on 5 September 2001 and is set to last for 639 years. The first audible note of John Cage’s As Slow As Possible was not actually heard until 5 February 2003.

Paintings and sculptures

A section of the Fiori di Como, the largest glass sculpture.


A section of the Fiori di Como, the largest glass sculpture.

  • The largest painting by a single-artist is David Aberg’s 86,000 square foot Mother Earth, made inside an aircraft hangar in southern Sweden.
  • The longest painting was created by over 3,000 students in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and measured 2,978.4 metres (9,771.6 feet) when completed on 21 March 2005.
  • The largest glass sculpture is Fiori di Como by Dale Chihuly, found on the ceiling of the lobby for Las Vegas’s Bellagio hotel. It measures 2,000 square feet.

Theatre, film and television

  • The Cure for Insomnia, directed by John Henry Timmis IV, is officially the world’s longest film. Running 5,220 minutes (87 hours) in length, the film is a documentary performance of artist L. D. Groban reading his lengthy poem “A Cure for Insomnia” over the course of three and a half days, spliced with occasional clips from heavy metal and pornographic videos.
  • The longest running U.S. television series is Meet the Press, which started on 6 November 1947 and continues today.

See also

  • Hermitage Museum – the world’s largest art gallery
  • List of largest buildings in the world
  • Unfinished work

oakley frogskin limited edition

Panay (disambiguation)

September 4th, 2008
















ltr ns-0 ns-subject page-Panay_disambiguation skin-monobook”>



Panay (disambiguation)

Jump to: navigation, search

Panay may refer to

  • Panay Island
  • Panay (Catanduanes) (small island)
  • Panay, Capiz
  • Panay River
  • Panay Gulf
  • USS Panay (three different ships)
  • Panay incident
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Views
  • Article
  • Discussion
  • Edit this page
  • History
Personal tools
  • Log in / create account

Navigation
  • Main page
  • Contents
  • Featured content
  • Current events
  • Random article
 

Wikipedia for this text” />
Interaction
  • About Wikipedia
  • Community portal
  • Recent changes
  • Contact Wikipedia
  • Donate to Wikipedia
  • Help
Toolbox
  • What links here
  • Related changes
  • Upload file
  • Special pages
  • Printable version
  • Cite this page
Languages
  • Bikol Central
  • Deutsch
  • Nederlands

Powered by MediaWiki
Wikimedia Foundation

  • This page was last modified on 15 May 2008, at 21:33.
  • Privacy policy
  • About Wikipedia
  • Disclaimers




bultaco frontera parts

Igam

September 4th, 2008

Igam is a small area in what is now Afghanistan just west of Sanginah. Named by the Persian Empire during the reign of Deioces (728BC-675BC). Considered to be a Holy site for a prophetic theories, Deioces built a shrine in 719BC to the honor of “IGAM”. IGAM, was prophesied by Zoroaster (Around 1200BC).

Zoroaster believed these stars would descend unto Earth and sleep in the womb of a woman. He went even as far as to describe the Earthly parents of the prophetic stars. That they would descend into woman and be born as children. Unto Leviathan and a Scion. The accounts were later written about by the Father Sebastien Michaelis.

During the rule of Astyages (585BC - 550BC) the shrines and the temples were destroyed. IGAM has long vanished into the regions folklore. Its only resurfacing seems to be coincidental.

bcbg red bubble dress

Black Swift

September 4th, 2008

Black Swift
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae
Genus: Cypseloides
Species: C. niger
Binomial name
Cypseloides niger
(Gmelin, 1789)

The Black Swift (Cypseloides niger) is North America’s largest swift. The bird is found from northern British Columbia in Canada through the United States and Mexico to Costa Rica. It is also found on islands in the West Indies.

In flight, this bird looks like a flying cigar with long slender curved wings. The plumage is mostly a sooty dark gray. There is some contrast between the upper and lower wing. The shoulders are much darker in color than the remaining portion of the wing. They also have short slightly forked tails.

Their breeding habitat is frequently associated with water. The birds most often nest on high cliff faces, either above the ocean surf or behind or next to waterfalls. The nest is made of twigs and moss glued together with mud. The will also use ferns and seaweed if available. The females usually lay 1 egg, sometimes 2, and incubation lasts 23-27 days. Young are fed usually once a day by both parents, most often at dusk.

These birds do migrate out of North America after the breeding season. It remains unclear where most of the birds spend the winter, although it appears some of the swifts in the West Indies remain as year round residents. They are one of the last migrants to appear, often seen migrating in mid-June to early July. They also migrate in large flocks.

These birds live on the wing, foraging in flight. They eat flying insects, primarily flying ants and beetles. They usually feed in groups, flying closely together.

References

  • BirdLife International (2004). Cypseloides niger. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

nicecall and nc-2000

Kematen an der Krems

September 4th, 2008






der Krems,Linz-Land (district),Linz-Land,Günter Seidler,Allhaming,Ansfelden,Area,Asten, Austria,Austria,Austrian People's Party” />













Kematen an der Krems

Jump to: navigation, search

Kematen an der Krems
Coat of arms Location
Coat of arms of Kematen an der Krems

Kematen an der Krems (Austria)

Kematen an der Krems

Administration
Country Flag of Austria Austria
State Upper Austria
District Linz-Land
Mayor Günter Seidler (ÖVP)
Basic statistics
Area 21 km² (8.1 sq mi)
Elevation 327 m  (1073 ft)
Population 2,210  (01/01/2005)
 - Density 105 /km² (273 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate LL
Postal code 4531
Area code 07228
Website www.kematen.at

Coordinates: 48°6?41?N 14°11?32?E? / ?48.11139, 14.19222

Kematen an der Krems is a municipality in the district Linz-Land in Upper Austria, Austria.

 This Upper Austria location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kematen_an_der_Krems”
Categories: Cities and towns in Upper Austria | Upper Austria geography stubs

Views
  • Article
  • Discussion
  • Edit this page
  • History
Personal tools
  • Log in / create account

Navigation
  • Main page
  • Contents
  • Featured content
  • Current events
  • Random article
 

Interaction
  • About Wikipedia
  • Community portal
  • Recent changes
  • Contact Wikipedia
  • Donate to Wikipedia
  • Help
Toolbox
  • What links here
  • Related changes
  • Upload file
  • Special pages
  • Printable version
  • Cite this page
Languages
  • Deutsch
  • Italiano
  • Nederlands
  • ???????
  • Sloven?ina
  • Volapük

Powered by MediaWiki
Wikimedia Foundation




seiko skz 209k1

Long-billed Gnatwren

September 4th, 2008

Long-billed Gnatwren
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Polioptilidae
Genus: Ramphocaenus
Species: R. melanurus
Binomial name
Ramphocaenus melanurus
(Vieillot, 1819)

The Long-billed Gnatwren, Ramphocaenus melanurus, is a very small bird in the gnatcatcher family. It is the only member of the genus Ramphocaenus (Vieillot, 1819).

It is found in the undergrowth and vines of dry forest and secondary woodland from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil, and on Trinidad.

Long-billed Gnatwrens build a deep cup nest very low in a small plant or sapling. The two white eggs are incuated by both parents for 16-17 days to hatching, with a further 11-12 days to fledging.

Adult Long-billed Gnatwrens are 10.9cm long and weigh 10.3g. They have a long thin bill and a short cocked tail. The upperparts are grey-brown, with rufous on the sides of the head. The throat is white, shading to buff on the rest of the underparts. The tail is black with white tips to all but the central feathers, and is frequently wagged.

R. m. trinitatis, of eastern Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad has paler underparts, and buff flanks and head sides.

Long-billed Gnatwrens forage actively in vegetation, eating mainly insects, insect eggs and spiders. The call is a trilled drdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdrdr. This unmistakable bird usually occurs in pairs or family groups.

References

  • BirdLife International (2004). Ramphocaenus melanurus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
  • ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2. 

toshiba x200 lc3