Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Archive
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These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in the last 30 days.
You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}} (version with blurb) or {{POTD}} (version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.
December 17
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Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterised as heroic. During this time, Beethoven began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. This oil-on-canvas portrait, titled Beethoven with the Manuscript of the Missa Solemnis, was painted by Joseph Karl Stieler in 1820, and depicts Beethoven while composing his Missa solemnis, which was first performed in 1824. The painting hangs in the Beethoven House at his birthplace in Bonn, Germany. Painting credit: Joseph Karl Stieler
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December 16
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The African chaffinch (Fringilla spodiogenys) is a species of passerine bird in the genus Fringilla. The African chaffinch is found from southern Morocco to northwestern Libya, and in Italy on the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria. There is also an isolated population in northeastern Libya. Its habitat includes deciduous forests and lowlands, and during the nonbreeding season extends its habitat to open areas including weedy fields and olive groves. The diet of the African chaffinch is similar to the Eurasian chaffinch, consisting mostly of small invertebrates and their larvae as well as flowers, seeds, and buds. This female African chaffinch was photographed in Sfax, Tunisia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 15
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The McClure Tunnel is a tunnel in Santa Monica, California, which connects Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1) with the western terminus of the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10). It is 400 feet (120 m) long. The first tunnel on the site was a Southern Pacific Railroad tunnel constructed in 1886. This featured in a brief 1898 film called Going Through the Tunnel, which showed the ocean view appearing to the left as the passenger emerges from the western portal. The rail tunnel was demolished and replaced with the current road tunnel, which opened in 1936. It was named after local newspaper publisher Robert E. McClure in 1979. Photograph credit: Steve Lyon
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December 14
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The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also known as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic, after the southern elephant seal. Its only natural predators are the killer whale and possibly the elephant seal. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. Together with the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, it is part of the tribe of Lobodontini seals. This photograph shows a leopard seal in the Antarctic Sound. Photograph: Godot13
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December 13
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Glassblowing is a technique which inflates molten glass into a bubble (or parison), with the aid of a blowpipe. A person who blows glass is called a glassblower, while the head of a glassblowing workshop is known as a gaffer. The process was invented by Syrian craftsmen from Hama and Aleppo between 27 BC and 14 AD, who discovered the previously unknown property of glass that a molten blob can be inflated by introducing a small amount of air into it. It was then adopted across the Roman Empire and has been in use since then. Glassblowing utilises the liquid structure of glass, the atoms being held together by strong chemical bonds in a disordered and random network, which means that molten glass is viscous enough to be blown and gradually harden as it loses heat. This photograph shows a man working on a glass project after removing it from a kiln at Brooklyn Glass in New York City, United States. Photograph credit: Rhododendrites
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December 12
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The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is a species of mammal in the family Camelidae, the camelids. Closely related to the llama, the guanaco is native to the steppes, scrublands and mountainous regions of South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina. It is a diurnal animal, living in small herds consisting of either one male and several females with their young, or separate bachelor herds. It can run at speeds of up to 64 km/h (40 mph), important for avoiding predation. A herbivore, the guanaco grazes on grasses, shrubs, herbs, lichens, fungi, cacti, and flowers, while its natural predators include the puma and the culpeo (Andean fox). Some guanacos are found domesticated in zoos and private herds around the world, and its fiber is also harvested for use in luxury fabrics, being noted for its soft, warm feel. This guanaco was photographed in Torres del Paine, Chile. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 11
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Isabella I (1451–1504), also called Isabella the Catholic, was Queen of Castile and of León from 1474 until her death. She was also Queen consort of Aragon from 1479. Isabella's 1469 marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon created the basis of the de facto unification of Spain and Ferdinand provided assistance for her victory in the War of the Castilian Succession. Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Her reign marked the end of the Reconquista and also the start of the Spanish Empire, allowing Spain to dominate European politics for the next century. This portrait of Isabella was produced in around 1490 by an unknown artist and is now in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Painting credit: Anonymous
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December 10
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On the evening of December 10, 2021, a tornado struck Western Kentucky, killing 57 people and injuring more than 500. The tornado lasted almost three hours and covered 165.6 miles (266.5 km). It was the deadliest and longest-tracked tornado in an outbreak that produced numerous strong tornadoes in several states. Storm surveys found the majority of the storm's path consisted of two separate EF4 tornadoes and three weaker, short-lived tornadoes in between them in northwestern Obion County, Tennessee. Governor Andy Beshear and President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency and a federal disaster on December 11. The tornado was the deadliest since 2011, and its death toll was the highest from a tornado in the month of December in US history. The picture shows part of the city of Mayfield, Kentucky, which was one of the towns most severely affected by the storm: the city was mostly leveled, and 22 people were killed. Photograph credit: State Farm
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December 9
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George Grossmith (9 December 1847 – 1 March 1912) was an English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer. As a writer and composer, he created eighteen comic operas, nearly a hundred musical sketches, some six hundred songs and piano pieces, three books (including the 1892 comic novel The Diary of a Nobody), and both serious and comic pieces for newspapers and magazines. In a four-decade career as a performer, Grossmith created a series of nine characters in Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas from 1877 to 1889, such as Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance. Grossmith then became the most popular British solo performer of the 1890s; some of his comic songs endure today. This 1881 photograph shows Grossmith posing in costume as Reginald Bunthorne in the original production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience at the Opera Comique in London. Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden
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December 8
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The American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory bird in the family Turdidae, the thrushes. It is named after the European robin because of its reddish-orange breast, although the two species are not closely related. The American robin is widely distributed throughout North America, wintering from southern Canada to central Mexico and along the Pacific coast. It is active mostly during the day and assembles in large flocks at night. Its diet consists of invertebrates (such as beetle grubs, earthworms, and caterpillars), fruits, and berries. The American robin's nest consists of long coarse grass, twigs, paper, and feathers, and is smeared with mud and often cushioned with grass or other soft materials. It is among the earliest birds to sing at dawn, and its song consists of several discrete units that are repeated. This American robin was photographed in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City. Photograph credit: Rhododendrites
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December 7
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Hugh McCulloch (December 7, 1808 – May 24, 1895) was an American financier who played a central role in financing the American Civil War. He served two non-consecutive terms as United States Secretary of the Treasury under three presidents. He was originally opposed to the creation of a system of national banks, but his reputation as head of the Bank of Indiana from 1857 to 1863 persuaded the Treasury to bring him in to supervise the new system as Comptroller of the Currency from 1863 to 1865. As Secretary of the Treasury from 1865 to 1869 under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, McCulloch reduced and funded the gigantic Civil War debt of the Union, and reestablished the federal taxation system across the former Confederate States of America. He served another six months as Secretary of the Treasury from 1884 to 1885, at the close of Chester A. Arthur's term as president. This line-engraved portrait of McCulloch was created by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation book of the first 42 secretaries of the treasury; McCulloch's portrait was used on the 1902 United States twenty-dollar bill. Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva
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December 6
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Curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalidae) are a family of iguanian lizards found in the West Indies, with extant species in the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. There are presently 30 known species in this family, all of which are members of the genus Leiocephalus. Curly-tailed lizards vary in size depending on species, but typically are approximately 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) in snout-to-vent length. As implied by the name, most species of this family exhibit a curling of the tail. This is done both when a potential predator is present, showing the fitness of the lizard to a would-be predator and – in the case of an attack – drawing attention to the tail, which increases the lizard's chance of escaping. The tail is often also curled when predators are not present, however. Curly-tailed lizards mostly forage on arthropods such as insects, but also commonly consume flowers and fruits. Large individuals can eat small vertebrates, including anoles. This curly-tailed lizard of the species Leiocephalus varius, the Cayman curlytail, was photographed on the coast in George Town on the island of Grand Cayman. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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December 5
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Till the Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker. Kern was involved with the production, but died before its completion. It was the first in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers. The film, directed by Richard Whorf, premiered on December 5, 1946, in New York City. Film credit: Richard Whorf
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December 4
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The siege of Baghdad took place in early 1258 when a large army under Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Hulegu had been sent by his brother, the Mongol khan Möngke, to conquer Persia. When Baghdad's ruler, Caliph al-Musta'sim, failed to reinforce the Mongol army, an angered Hulegu decided to overthrow him. The Mongol army routed a sortie led by al-Musta'sim's dawatdar (a leading minister) and besieged the city. After Mongol siege engines breached Baghdad's walls within days, al-Musta'sim surrendered and was later executed. The Mongol army pillaged the city for a week. The number of deaths was inflated by epidemics of disease, but Hulegu estimated his soldiers killed 200,000. Although the siege is often seen as the end of the Islamic Golden Age, Baghdad prospered under Hulegu's Ilkhanate. This double-page illustration, taken from a 14th-century manuscript of Rashid al-Din Hamadani's Jami' al-tawarikh, depicts the attempted escape of the dawatdar down the river Tigris (centre right); the soldiers on the pontoons forced him back to Baghdad with the loss of three ships. The manuscript forms part of the Diez Albums, now in the collection of the Berlin State Library in Germany. Illustration credit: unknown
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December 3
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The golden-shouldered parrot (Psephotellus chrysopterygius) is a rare species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae found in the southern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia. It is a small bird, with a length of 25 to 27 centimetres (9.8 to 10.6 in) and a mass of 54 to 56 grams (1.9 to 2.0 oz), and is closely related to the more common hooded parrot and the extinct paradise parrot. Adult males are mainly blue, with a characteristic yellow area over the shoulder and black cap, while adult females are mainly dull greenish-yellow, and have a broad cream bar on the underside of the wings. This pair of golden-shouldered parrots – a female (left) and a male (right) – were photographed near the Peninsula Developmental Road south of Yarraden, Queensland. Photograph credit: John Harrison
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December 2
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Pedro II of Brazil (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), also known as Pedro the Magnanimous, was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for more than 58 years. Born in Rio de Janeiro as the seventh son of Pedro I and Maria Leopoldina, Pedro II inherited an empire on the verge of disintegration, but he turned Brazil into an emerging power in the international arena. The nation grew to be distinguished from its Hispanic neighbors on account of its political stability, freedom of speech, respect for civil rights, vibrant economic growth, and form of government – a functional representative parliamentary monarchy. Pedro pushed through the abolition of slavery in Brazil despite opposition from powerful political and economic interests. He established a reputation as a vigorous sponsor of learning, culture, and the sciences, and he won the respect and admiration of people such as Charles Darwin, Victor Hugo, and Friedrich Nietzsche, and was a friend to Richard Wagner, Louis Pasteur, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, among others. Historians have regarded Pedro positively and several have ranked him as the greatest Brazilian. This 1872 painting by Pedro Américo depicts Pedro II delivering the speech from the throne in the General Assembly and wearing the Imperial Regalia. Painting credit: Pedro Américo; photographed by Imperial Museum of Brazil
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December 1
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The Massacre of the Mamelukes is an 1819 history painting by the French artist Horace Vernet. It depicts one of the final events in the rise to power of Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali, when the Mamluk people was massacred at the Cairo Citadel in 1811. The painting shows Ali sitting calmly after ordering the killings, smoking his narguile as he watches the violence unfold. The Massacre of the Mamelukes, one of several versions of the scene produced by Vernet, was exhibited at the Salon of 1819 in Paris, and is now in the collection of the Musée de Picardie in Amiens, France. Painting credit: Horace Vernet
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November 30
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Shirley Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968 she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th congressional district for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972 she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for president of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. In 2015 Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This photograph shows Chisholm as she was announcing her candidacy for the presidency in 1972. Photograph credit: Thomas J. O'Halloran; restored by Adam Cuerden
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November 29
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The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is a philosophical position about how the mathematics used in quantum mechanics relates to physical reality. It asserts that the universal wavefunction is objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse. This implies that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realized in some "world" or universe. In contrast to some other interpretations of quantum mechanics, the evolution of reality as a whole in MWI is rigidly deterministic and local. Many-worlds is also called the relative state formulation or the Everett interpretation, after physicist Hugh Everett, who first proposed it in 1957. Bryce DeWitt popularized the formulation and named it "many-worlds" in the 1970s. This graphic illustrates the many-worlds interpretation of Schrödinger's cat, a popular thought experiment concerning quantum superposition, depicting the experiment's different outcomes as two branching strips of film stock. Every quantum event is a branch point; the cat is both alive and dead, even before the box is opened, but the "alive" and "dead" cats are in different branches of the multiverse, both of which are equally real, but which do not interact with each other. Illustration credit: Christian Schirm
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November 28
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The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), also known as the dassie, is one of four living species of the hyrax order, Hyracoidea, and the only living species in its genus. Like all hyraxes, it is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal between 4 kg (9 lb) and 5 kg (11 lb) in mass, with short ears and tail. The rock hyrax is found across Africa and the Middle East, at elevations up to 4,200 metres (13,800 ft). It resides in habitats with rock crevices which it uses to escape from predators. Along with the other hyrax species and the manatees, these are the living animals most closely related to the elephant. This rock hyrax was photographed near Omaruru, Erongo, Namibia. Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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November 27
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The 1884 United States presidential election was held in November 1884 between Grover Cleveland of the Democratic Party, James G. Blaine of the Republican Party, and two third-party candidates. The election was narrowly won by Cleveland, who won 219 Electoral College votes to Blaine's 182, ending a run of six consecutive Republican victories. The issue of personal character featured strongly during the 1884 campaign. Blaine had been prevented from getting the Republican presidential nomination during the previous two elections because of the stigma of a set of letters that he had written, while Cleveland was perceived as having high personal integrity. This campaign advertisement for Blaine, captioned "Another voice for Cleveland", was published in the New York magazine The Judge on September 27, 1884, and aimed to shift this balance and attack Cleveland's morals by alleging that he had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in Buffalo, New York. The chromolithograph illustration depicts a weeping woman holding a baby who cries out "I want my pa!" as Cleveland walks past. Cleveland's campaign responded that he had formed a connection with the woman in question and had assumed responsibility for the child, but that his paternity was unproven. Poster credit: Frank Beard; restored by Adam Cuerden
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November 26
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The Basilica of Superga is a hilltop Catholic basilica in Superga, in the vicinity of Turin, Italy. It was built from 1717 to 1731 for Victor Amadeus II, the duke of Savoy and future king of Sicily, to a design by Filippo Juvarra. The building of the church fulfilled a vow Victor Amadeus had made during the Battle of Turin, after defeating the besieging French army in the War of the Spanish Succession. The basilica is considered to be an example of late Baroque-Classicist architecture. Its royal crypt is the traditional burial place of members of the House of Savoy, including various kings of Sardinia and of Italy. In 1949, the basilica was the site of the Superga air disaster when the plane carrying the Grande Torino football team collided with the church's rear supporting wall, killing the entire team and their coach. This photograph shows the basilica with the Monte Rosa massif in the background. Photograph credit: Domeian
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November 25
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The pink cockatoo (Cacatua leadbeateri) is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas across Australia, with the exception of the north east. The bird has a soft-textured white and salmon-pink plumage and large, bright red and yellow crest. The sexes are quite similar although males are usually bigger, while the female has a broader yellow stripe on the crest and develops a red eye when mature. The pink cockatoo is usually found in pairs or small groups, and feeds both on the ground and in trees. Formerly known as Major Mitchell's cockatoo, after the explorer Major Thomas Mitchell, the species was officially renamed to pink cockatoo by BirdLife Australia in 2023, due to Mitchell's involvement in the massacre of Aboriginal people at Mount Dispersion and a general trend to make Australian species names more culturally inclusive. The bird is listed as endangered by the Australian government. This pink cockatoo in flight was photographed near Mount Grenfell in New South Wales, Australia. Photograph credit: JJ Harrison
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November 24
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Renate Reinsve (born 24 November 1987) is a Norwegian actress. She made her film debut in Joachim Trier's film Oslo, August 31st (2011). Her breakout role came in Trier's romantic drama The Worst Person in the World (2021), for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She has since starred in the Apple TV+ legal-thriller series Presumed Innocent, the A24 satirical dark comedy A Different Man, and the thriller Armand (all 2024). She reunited with Trier for the film Sentimental Value (2025). This photograph of Reinsve was taken at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Photograph credit: Harald Krichel
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November 23
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Lactarius resimus is a species of mushroom in the Russulaceae family. It has a cap which ranges from 4–15 cm in diameter, while its stalk has a length from 2–6 cm and a width of 1–3 cm. The mushroom is generally white, but stains yellow to orange. Its spores are white-yellow, elliptical and bumpy. An edible fungus, it is considered a delicacy in Russia and some other countries of Eastern Europe, often pickled in salt. This L. resimus mushroom was photographed in Katon-Karagay National Park, Kazakhstan. Photograph credit: Avustfel
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November 22
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The white-lipped tree frog (Nyctimystes infrafrenatus) is a species of tree frog in the subfamily Pelodryadinae of the family Hylidae. It is found in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, parts of Solomon Islands, and in the wet tropics of north-eastern Queensland, Australia, and lives in rainforests, cultivated areas, and around houses in coastal areas. A large species, the white-lipped tree frog has a typical length of 11 to 14 cm (4.3 to 5.5 in) and a mass of 30 to 60 g (1.1 to 2.1 oz). Its dorsal surface is usually bright green, although the colour changes depending on the temperature and background, and can be brown, while its lower lip has an eponymous distinctive white stripe. This white-lipped tree frog was photographed in the Daintree Rainforest, Queensland. Photograph credit: JJ Harrison
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November 21
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C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered in 2014 by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy using a 0.2-meter (8 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. It was discovered at apparent magnitude 15 in the southern constellation of Puppis, and is the fifth comet discovered by Lovejoy. Its blue-green glow is the result of organic molecules and water released by the comet fluorescing under the harsh UV and optical light of the sun as it passes through space. Photograph: John Vermette
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November 20
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Otto von Habsburg (20 November 1912 – 4 July 2011) was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in November 1918. In 1922, he became the pretender to the former thrones, head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and sovereign of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, upon the death of his father. He resigned as Sovereign of the Golden Fleece in 2000 and as head of the Imperial House in 2007. This photograph of von Habsburg was taken in 2006 by German photographer Oliver Mark. Photograph credit: Oliver Mark
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November 19
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The grey-headed honeyeater (Ptilotula keartlandi) is a species of bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia, where it has an extensive range covering much of the central arid and semi-arid areas of the continent. It mostly frequents eucalyptus scrub and woodlands in stony hill country and timbered gullies within ranges, but has also been observed on sand-plains with flowering vegetation, mulga and mallee woodlands, riverine areas and occasionally in Mitchell grasslands. The grey-headed honeyeater is thought to be largely sedentary, but undertakes nomadic movements in response to flowering events. The bird is relatively small for a honeyeater, with a total body length of 13–16.5 cm (5.1–6.5 in) and a mass of 12–18 g (0.4–0.6 oz). Adults have a distinctive grey crown above a black facial mask with the nape and remaining upper body parts coloured dark fawn-grey, with light olive-yellow breast, belly, flanks, and throat streaked with brown, a light-grey brown rump and a short black bill. It feeds on invertebrates as well as insects on the wing and, like many honeyeaters, it consumes nectar from flowering trees. This grey-headed honeyeater was photographed in Watarrka National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. Photograph credit: JJ Harrison
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November 18
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The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. Drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years. This black-and-white photograph, captioned "Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!", was taken by the American photographer Dorothea Lange in 1937 and depicts the jalopy of a Missouri migrant family of five on U.S. Route 99 near Tracy, California. Photograph credit: Dorothea Lange; restored by Adam Cuerden
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