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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

The Violence That Helped Spark the NAACP

In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.

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Wikipedia

Sabrewing

Sabrewing
White-tailed sabrewing
Campylopterus ensipennis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Trochilidae
Tribe: Trochilini
Genus: Campylopterus
Swainson, 1827
Type species
Trochilus latipennis Latham, 1790=Trochilus largipennis Boddaert, 1783
Species

10, see text

Sabrewing is the common name given to hummingbirds classified in the genus Campylopterus. The group includes ten species. They are Neotropical birds that inhabit mountainous forests, generally near streams.

Sabrewings are on average 12 to 15 cm long. Although small birds, they are relatively large compared to other hummingbirds. The bill is black, strong and slightly curved. The two outer primary remiges (flight feathers) are thick and curved, giving the wings a generally curved appearance. This characteristic is the origin of the common name "sabrewing" and the generic name Campylopterus, from the Greek kampulos (curved) + pteros (wing).

The plumage of sabrewings is based on brownish-green, cinnamon, gray and combinations. Some species have additional shades of violet, particularly on the head, tail and/or throat.

Sabrewings feed on flower nectar, like most hummingbirds, with a preference for flowers of the genus Heliconia.

Taxonomy

[edit]

The genus Campylopterus was erected by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1827 who listed two species in the genus but did not specify the type.[1] In 1840 the English zoologist George Gray designated the type as Trochilus latipennis Latham, 1790.[2] This is a junior synonym of Trochilus largipennis Boddaert, 1783, the grey-breasted sabrewing.[3][4] The generic name combines the Ancient Greek kampulos meaning "curved" or "bent" and -pteros meaning "-winged".[5]

The genus contains 10 species:[6]

Image Name Common name Distribution
Campylopterus largipennis Gray-breasted sabrewing Amazon rainforest
Campylopterus diamantinensis Diamantina sabrewing Brazil
Campylopterus calcirupicola Outcrop sabrewing Brazil
Campylopterus hyperythrus Rufous-breasted sabrewing Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela
Campylopterus ensipennis White-tailed sabrewing northeastern Venezuela and Tobago
Campylopterus falcatus Lazuline sabrewing Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela
Campylopterus phainopeplus Santa Marta sabrewing Colombia
Campylopterus hemileucurus Violet sabrewing southern Mexico and Central America as far south as Costa Rica and western Panama
Campylopterus duidae Buff-breasted sabrewing Brazil and Venezuela
Campylopterus villaviscensio Napo sabrewing Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Swainson, William (1827). "On several groups and forms in ornithology, not hitherto defined". Zoological Journal. 3: 343-363 [358].
  2. ^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 13.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1945). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 5. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 18.
  4. ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  6. ^ AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 22 April 2026.

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

Wikipedia

Sabrewing

Sabrewing is the common name given to hummingbirds classified in the genus Campylopterus. The group includes ten species. They are Neotropical birds that inhabit mountainous forests, generally near streams. Sabrewings are on average 12 to 15 cm long. Although small birds, they are relatively large compared to other hummingbirds. The bill is black, strong and slightly curved. The two outer primary remiges (flight feathers) are thick and curved, giving the wings a generally curved appearance. This characteristic is the origin of the common name "sabrewing" and the generic name Campylopterus, from the Greek kampulos (curved) + pteros (wing). The plumage of sabrewings is based on brownish-green, cinnamon, gray and combinations. Some species have additional shades of violet, particularly on the head, tail and/or throat. Sabrewings feed on flower nectar, like most hummingbirds, with a preference for flowers of the genus Heliconia.

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Wikipedia

Wing clipping

Wing clipping is the process of trimming a bird's primary wing feathers or remiges so that it is not fully flight-capable, until it moults, sheds the cut feathers, and grows new ones.

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Wikipedia

Golden parakeet

The golden parakeet, golden conure, or Queen of Bavaria conure (Guaruba guarouba) is a medium-sized golden-yellow Neotropical parrot native to the Amazon Basin of interior northern Brazil. It is the only species placed in the genus Guaruba. Its plumage is mostly bright yellow, hence its common name, but it also possesses green remiges. It lives in the drier, upland rainforests in Amazonian Brazil, and is threatened by deforestation and flooding, and also by the now-illegal trapping of wild individuals for the pet trade. It is listed on CITES appendix I.

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Wikipedia

Flight feather

Flight feathers (Pennae volatus) are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail are called rectrices ( or ), singular rectrix (). The primary function of the flight feathers is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The flight feathers of some birds perform additional functions, generally associated with territorial displays, courtship rituals or feeding methods. In some species, these feathers have developed into long showy plumes used in visual courtship displays, while in others they create a sound during display flights. Tiny serrations on the leading edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently (and therefore hunt more successfully), while the extra-stiff rectrices of woodpeckers help them to brace against tree trunks as they hammer on them. Even flightless birds still retain flight feathers, though sometimes in radically modified forms. The remiges are divided into primary and secondary feathers based on their position along the wing. There are typically 11 primaries attached to the manus (six attached to the metacarpus and five to the phalanges), but the outermost primary, called the remicle, is often rudimentary or absent; certain birds, notably the flamingos, grebes, and storks, have seven primaries attached to the metacarpus and 12 in all. Secondary feathers are attached to the ulna. The fifth secondary remex (numbered inwards from the carpal joint) was formerly thought to be absent in some species, but the modern view of this diastataxy is that there is a gap between the fourth and fifth secondaries. Tertiary feathers growing upon the adjoining portion of the brachium are not considered true remiges. The moult of their flight feathers can cause serious problems for birds, as it can impair their ability to fly. Different species have evolved different strategies for coping with this, ranging from dropping all their flight feathers at once (and thus becoming flightless for some relatively short period of time) to extending the moult over a period of several years.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Who became the first Black woman to travel into space?

Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.