Wikipedia:Picture of the day/On the main pages

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This page shows the pictures of the day for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If multiple pictures are featured as a random selection, all of the options are shown here. If the dates shown below are not current, please null edit the page.

Yesterday (2024-06-05)

Cone of a Douglas fir

The Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae, which is native to western North America. The trees grow to a height of around 20 to 100 metres (70 to 330 feet) and commonly reach 2.4 metres (8 feet) in diameter. The largest coast Douglas firs regularly live for more than 500 years, with the oldest specimens more than 1,300 years old. The cones are pendulous and differ from true firs as they have persistent scales. The cones have distinctive long, trifid (three-pointed) bracts, which protrude prominently above each scale. The cones become tan when mature, measuring 6 to 10 centimetres (2+12 to 4 inches) long for coastal Douglas firs. This photograph shows a young female cone of the variety Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir), cultivated near Keila, Estonia.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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Today (2024-06-06)

Martial eagle

The martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa. A species of the booted eagle subfamily (Aquilinae), it has feathering over its tarsus. One of the largest and most powerful species of booted eagle, it is a fairly opportunistic predator that varies its prey selection between mammals, birds and reptiles. It is one of a few eagle species known to hunt primarily from a high soar, by stooping on its quarry. Currently, the species is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This martial eagle was photographed in the Matetsi safari area in Zimbabwe.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Tomorrow (2024-06-07)

Dimitri

Dimitri is an 1876 French-language grand opera in five acts by Victorin de Joncières. Set to a libretto by Henri de Bornier and Paul Armand Silvestre after Friedrich Schiller's incomplete play Demetrius, itself a story based on the life of the Russian pretender False Dmitry I (reigned 1605–1606), the opera was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre National Lyrique. Antonín Dvořák's 1881 opera Dimitrij was also based on Schiller's play. This picture shows the set design for Act V of Dimitri's première.

Art credit: Philippe Chaperon; restored by Adam Cuerden