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Common Nightingale | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Common Nightingale

Luscinia megarhynchos

AvesDense scrub, coppiced woodland and thickets with thick low coverLeast Concern

Field profile

The common nightingale is a plain brown chat with a rufous tail, far better known by ear than by eye. It skulks in dense undergrowth and is famous for a loud, varied song delivered by night as well as by day. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering in tropical Africa.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-10-17

Common Nightingale

Only unpaired male nightingales sing at night

Nightingales sing round the clock, but the celebrated nocturnal song has a narrow purpose. Males that have not yet attracted a mate sing through the dark hours; once a female settles with them, the night singing largely stops.

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