Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)

OTHER NAMES: Rufous Nightingale, Western Nightingale, Nightingale

Latin Etymology: Luscinia ("Nightingale") megarhynchos ("great bill")

                             Adult male Common Nightingale (subspecies L. m. megarhynchos) at Cliffe Pools, Kent - May 2014

Featured Subspecies: Luscinia megarhynchos megarhynchos

Weight: 20g  /  Length: 15-16cm  /  Wingspan: 20-22.5cm

UK AMBER LIST / IUCN Red List - Least Concern

The Nightingale is in theory one of the most iconic of British birds, though perhaps uniquely, more famed for its song than it's fairly average appearance.  It does indeed have a very distinctive song - powerful, elaborate, varied and much more rich sounding than any other bird in the UK.  It is however, a difficult bird to hear and an even more difficult one to see - it is increasingly rare in much of its range and very skulking where it is difficult to observe in the deep brambles and thickets where it lives.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Luscinia
Subspecies: L. m. megarhynchos, L. m. africana, L. m. golzii

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A breeding Summer Migrant to the South (6700 males)

 - A number seen and heard around Cliffe Pools in May 2014, heard arpund Rye Harbour in May 2012.

SPAIN - Spanish - Ruiseñor común ("Common Nightingale")

A locally common Summer migrant

 - MADRID 2015 TRIP: Several heard near Patones
 - MADRID 2016 TRIP: Common along the river at El Pardo 

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto