Common nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos

Features

Species	Bird
Living space
Size	15 - 16 cm
Weight	20 g

Description

Common nightingales are so named because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. 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, absent from the song of thrush nightingale. It has a frog-like alarm call. It is plain brown above except for the reddish tail. It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south-west Asia, and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa.