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The Common Firecrest is a very small passerine bird in the kinglet family. It breeds in most of temperate Europe and northwestern Africa, and is partially migratory, with birds from central Europe wintering to the south and west of their breeding range. Firecrests in the Balearic Islands and north Africa are widely recognised as a separate subspecies. The head crest, orange in the male and yellow in the female, is displayed during breeding, and gives rise to the English and scientific names for the species. The song is a repetition of high thin notes, slightly lower-pitched than those of its relative. The Common Firecrest breeds in broadleaved or coniferous woodland and gardens, building its compact, three-layered nest on a tree branch. Seven to twelve eggs are incubated by the female alone. Both parents feed the chicks, which fledge 22–24 days after hatching. This kinglet is constantly on the move and frequently hovers as it searches for insects to eat, and in winter it is often found with flocks of tits. Despite some possible local declines, the species is not the subject of significant conservation concerns owing to its large European population and an expansion of its range over the last century. (more...)

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February 1: Imbolc (Northern Hemisphere)

• 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn was signed, ending the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
• 1814 – The most destructive eruption of the Mayon Volcano occurred, killing over 2,000 people on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
• 1960 – Four African American students staged the first Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter (pictured) in Greensboro, North Carolina.
• 1972 – Kuala Lumpur gained city status, the first settlement in Malaysia to do so after the nation's independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1981 – Senegal and the Gambia formed the Senegambia Confederation.
• 2001 – The Timor Leste Defence Force was established from the erstwhile anti-Indonesian independence movement Falintil.

More anniversaries: January 31 – February 1 – February 2