The masked booby (Sula dactylatra) is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1831, the species is one of six in the genus Sula. It has a long pointed yellowish bill, long neck, aerodynamic body, long slender wings and pointed tail. The adult is bright white with black wings, a black tail and a dark face mask; at 75 to 85 cm (30 to 33 in) long, it is the largest species of booby. The sexes have similar plumage. The species is not threatened; it ranges across tropical oceans, except in the eastern Atlantic and eastern Pacific. Nesting takes place in colonies, generally on islands and atolls far from the mainland and close to the deep water required for foraging. Potential and mated pairs engage in courtship and greeting displays. The female lays two chalky white eggs in a shallow depression on flat ground away from vegetation. These birds are spectacular high-speed plunge divers, preying mainly on flying fish. (Full article...)

Criccieth Castle

• ... that Criccieth Castle (pictured) combined the "latest advances in military technology" with the "haphazard Welsh castle building style"?
• ... that Jerry Atkinson, a manager for a department store, helped prevent the Green Bay Packers from going insolvent in 1949 and 1950?
• ... that the most tweeted word on New Year's Eve 2013 related to the anime opening theme "Guren no Yumiya"?
• ... that Carlos Santana Tovar, who represented Amazonas in the 1952 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly, was taken hostage during the 1921 revolution and only escaped years later?
• ... that Only Up! was removed from Steam twice: first over copyright violations and subsequently to alleviate the developer's stress?
• ... that the Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites experiment continuously overheated and had to be switched off during the lunar noon?
• ... that Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, may have left a poem out of a collection of his father's poetry because it was "too racy"?
• ... that Prince William reportedly used the name "Steve" while studying at the University of St Andrews to avoid attracting attention from the media?

Pope Francis

• In Nigeria, bandits kill at least 200 people in Plateau State.
• A mass shooting in Prague, Czech Republic, leaves 15 people dead.
• Pope Francis (pictured) approves a declaration that allows Catholic clergy to bless same-sex couples.
• After weeks of earthquakes, a volcanic eruption occurs near Grindavík, Iceland.
• An earthquake in Jishishan County, China, leaves more than 140 people dead.

December 31: Saint Sylvester's Day (Western Christianity)

Parliament Hill, Ottawa

• 1857 – Queen Victoria announced the choice of Ottawa (pictured), then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.
• 1950 – Korean War: North Korean troops attacked United Nations forces in the first of two battles at Wonju.
• 1993 – Brandon Teena, an American trans man, was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska; his death led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.
• 1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the exchange rates of the legacy currencies in the eurozone, establishing the value of the euro.
• 2006 – War in Somalia: Transitional Federal Government forces attacked the last stronghold of the Islamic Courts Union in the town of Jilib.