Just the Facts: The Nightingale is similar in size to the European Robin, at 15-16.5 cm length. It is plain brown above except for the red-sided tail with red side patches. It is buff to white below. Sexes are similar. Eastern races have paler upperparts and a stronger face-pattern, including a pale supercilium.
Range and Migration: It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south-west Asia. The distribution is more southerly than the very closely related Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia. It nests low in dense bushes. It winters in southern Africa.
Sing Sweet Nightengale: The male Nightingale is known for his singing, to the extent that human singers are sometimes admiringly referred to as nightingales; the birdsong is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Although it also sings during the day, the nightingale is unusual in singing late in the evening; its song is particularly noticeable at that time because few other birds are singing. This is why its name (in several languages) includes "night".
City Song: Recent research has shown that the birds 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. It has
a frog-like alarm call.
Classification Confusion: The Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is a small passerine bird that
was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae. It, and similar small European species, are often called chats.
Trivia:
The Nightingale is the national bird of Iran.
In popular traditions, the Nightingale announces the coming of spring, and is a symbol of love.
The French traditional song The Nightingale Which Flies inspired Tchaikovsky when composing his Humoresque opus 10-2.
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