Common Nightingale
Luscinia megarhynchos
A plain brown bird with a pale eyering and rusty-brown tail, best known for its rich, powerful song which can keep people awake when given at night. In areas of overlap, compare with extremely similar Thrush Nightingale; note present species’ unmarked pale underparts, often with a variable buffy wash, as well as its warmer-toned back and brighter rufous tail. Song is extremely variable, and can include whistles, trills, rattles, and warbled phrases; elements often repeated. Calls include a very difficult-to-locate “teek”, low rattles, and harsh rasping calls. Found in varied wooded and scrubby habitats, typically with shady understory. Winters in similarly varied tangled habitats. Typically rather shy and elusive.
Identification
The common nightingale is slightly larger than the European robin, at 15–16.5 cm (5.9–6.5 in) length. It is plain brown above except for the reddish tail. It is buff to white below. The sexes are similar. The eastern subspecies (L. m. golzi) and the Caucasian subspecies (L. m. africana) have paler upper parts and a stronger face-pattern, including a pale supercilium. The song of the male nightingale has been described as one of the most beautiful sounds in nature, inspiring songs, fairy tales, opera, books, and a great deal of poetry. However, historically most people were not aware that female nightingales do not sing.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Luscinia megarhynchos
- Authority
- Brehm, CL, 1831
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Luscinia
Range and habitat
It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and the Palearctic, and wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is not found naturally in the Americas. The distribution is more southerly than the very closely related thrush nightingale Luscinia luscinia. It nests on or near the ground in dense vegetation. Research in Germany found that favoured breeding habitat of nightingales was defined by a number of geographical factors.<p>In the U.K., the bird is at the northern limit of its range which has contracted in recent years, placing it on the red list for conservation. Despite local efforts to safeguard its favoured coppice and scrub habitat, numbers fell by 53 percent between 1995 and 2008. A survey conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology in 2012 and 2013 recorded some 3,300 territories, with most of these clustered in a few counties in the southeast of England, notably Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and East and West Sussex.<p>By contrast, the European breeding population is estimated at between 3.2 and 7 million pairs, giving it green conservation status (least concern).
- Breeding range
- PAL : c, w
- Non-breeding range
- AF
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Common nightingales are so named because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for more than 1,000 years, being highly recognisable even in its Old English form nihtegale, which means "night songstress". Early writers assumed the female sang when it is in fact the male. The song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing. This is why its name includes "night" in several languages. Only unpaired males sing regularly at night, and nocturnal song probably serves to attract a mate. Singing at dawn, during the hour before sunrise, is assumed to be important in defending the bird's territory. Nightingales sing even more loudly in urban or near-urban environments, in order to overcome the background noise. The most characteristic feature of the song is a loud whistling crescendo that is absent from the song of its close relative, the thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia). It has a frog-like alarm call.<p>The bird is a host of the acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Apororhynchus silesiacus.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Orange-breasted Thornbird
Phacellodomus ferrugineigula
Medium-sized, long-tailed thornbird with a brown body and a rufous forehead and throat. The tail is rufous with a brown center. Resembles Orange-eyed Thornbird, but has dark eyes. An inhabitant of wet marshy areas with scattered trees, where unlike others thornbirds it builds large woven nests of grass, leaves, and stems. Song is a series of loud ringing notes, usually delivered as a duet.
West Papuan Lorikeet
Charmosyna papou
A large, very long-tailed lorikeet of mid and upper montane forest. Has a red head and chest, yellow on the side of the chest and lower flanks, green wings, dark patch on the belly, and green base to the tail and yellow tail tip. Like other lorikeets, nomadic following the flowering of trees. Similar to Josephine’s Lorikeet, but Papuan is distinctly larger with long tail streamers, and yellow patches on the sides. Call, a high-pitch, ringing “srik!” note.
Pink-rumped Rosefinch
Carpodacus waltoni
Inhabits open areas such as edges and shrubby expanses. Male is streaky brown above and bright pink below with a similarly-colored brow that flares open towards the back. Averages paler and sandier brown on the back than Chinese and Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinches, and has a brighter and more extensive pink rump than either species. Female is brown and streaky and difficult to distinguish from other female rosefinches; look out for extensive and clear streaking all down the underparts, a weak pale brow, and a finely streaked crown. Usually gives sharp ticking and tinking calls.
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