Flycatchers and chats · Perching birds
Common Nightingale
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Luscinia megarhynchos
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Voice
Song
Song
Alarm
How to recognize it
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16.5 cm, sparrow-sized
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Warm brown above, greyish-yellow below
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Reddish tail; breast plain, without spots
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Dense scrub and woodland edge; loud, varied song of whistles and trills, often at night
About the species
The Common Nightingale keeps to cover and often slips through dense shrubs or low growth rather than staying out in the open. Its plumage is plain brown above with a reddish tail, and the underparts are pale, so the main clue is usually its movement and voice.
It sings loudly, often at night as well as in the day, and the male can keep going from a hidden perch. The song runs through whistles, trills, and gurgling notes, with a long rising whistle that carries well in towns; the alarm call is frog-like.
Look for it in thick scrub, forest edge, and damp places, usually near the ground. It feeds on insects and their larvae, worms, caterpillars, spiders, and other small invertebrates, with berries also becoming important in summer and autumn. Populations in Europe migrate to Africa for winter.
Where to find
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In dense shrubs at quiet woodland edges and overgrown gullies — especially where the loud, flowing song comes from low in the thicket at dusk.
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Along wet fringes by ponds and drainage ditches — near reeds and young willows, with the nightingale staying low among grass and stems.
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On weedy vacant lots with thick bramble and nettles — easier to hear than to see, singing from tangled cover.
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In old city parks with a dense shrub layer — most noticeable in the morning by song rising from the lower branches.
