Wildlife
Nightingales are best known for their beautiful vocal abilities. Male birds, especially, sing for hours on end each night during the breeding season. The females select mates based on the quality of this musical performance. Older males have improved mating success due to their larger song repertoire, which can consist of an astonishing 260 variations. Nightingales have declined in Britain in recent years, since grazing roe and muntjac deer have reduced the density of shrubs inhabited by nightingales.
Did you know?
Male nightingales lose weight each night they sing.
All you need to know about British birds.
Scientific name: Luscinia megarhynchos
Rank: Species
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Super serenader
The nightingale's huge repertoire of love songs.
The nightingale's huge repertoire of love songs.
Summer song
The nightingale makes up for its unprepossessing looks with its splendid voice.
The nightingale makes up for its unprepossessing looks with its splendid voice.
Declining nightingales
UK nightingale numbers have crashed in recent years, but why?
UK nightingale numbers have crashed in recent years, but why?
Nightingale sensation
A spontaneous duet in one of the first live ever radio broadcasts brought instant stardom.
A spontaneous duet in one of the first live ever radio broadcasts brought instant stardom.
Song supremo
Song is all-important to a male nightingale.
Song is all-important to a male nightingale.
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Nightingale can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Mediterranean, Russia, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Nightingale distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Year assessed: 2009
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The Common Nightingale or simply Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), also known as Rufous Nightingale, 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 belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats.
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Helpless young
Migration
Courtship display
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Monogamous
Egg layer
Parental investment
Territorial