Luscinia megarhynchoscommon nightingale

Ge­o­graphic Range

Com­mon nightin­gales (Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos) have a large ge­o­graphic range. They are na­tive to, and widely dis­trib­uted in, cen­tral and south­ern Eu­rope and cen­tral Asia. Lo­cally dis­trib­uted in the British Isles, they are more com­monly seen in France, Italy, and Spain dur­ing the sum­mer when they nest. Com­mon nightin­gales pre­fer milder and warmer cli­mates than their close rel­a­tives, thrush nightin­gales (Lus­cinia lus­cinia). Dur­ing the win­ter, com­mon nightin­gales mi­grate to the trop­ics of north­ern and cen­tral Africa, in­clud­ing west­ern Sa­hara, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Cameroon, and Nige­ria, among oth­ers. ("Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos", 1999; "Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos", 2007; Uri, 2002)

Habi­tat

Com­mon nightin­gales typ­i­cally pre­fer habi­tats with mild to warm cli­mates. They can be found in areas with dense, low thicket growth or wood­lands with young trees and bare ground un­der­neath. They pre­fer habi­tats with cop­piced tree species, and are most often found in hazel trees. This is ideal for Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos be­cause it pro­vides a good hid­ing place from preda­tors while al­low­ing them to search for food and make nests safely. Due to the re­cent de­cline in the pop­u­la­tion of com­mon nightin­gales in Eng­land, re­searchers have in­ves­ti­gated whether a cut­back of suit­able habi­tats may have caused the de­cline. Var­i­ous fac­tors, in­clud­ing cli­mate change, changes in the qual­ity of habi­tats, the in­tro­duc­tion of Reeve's munt­jacs (Munti­a­cus reevesi), and the re-in­tro­duc­tion of roe deer (Capre­o­lus capre­o­lus) have all con­tributed to pop­u­la­tion de­clines in Britain. Reeve's munt­jacs and roe deer graze in the woods typ­i­cally in­hab­ited by com­mon nightin­gales, which re­duces the den­sity of shrubs. (Hew­son, et al., 2005; Mead, 1998; Wil­son, et al., 2002)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Com­mon nightin­gales are rather plain in ap­pear­ance com­pared to their re­mark­able singing abil­i­ties. They are slightly larger than Eu­ro­pean robins (Eritha­cus rubec­ula) and their body is brown in color ex­cept on the un­der­side, where the feath­ers be­come lighter. They have broad, chest­nut col­ored tails, and large, black eyes which are adorned with a white ring around each eye. Males and fe­males are sim­i­lar in ap­pear­ance, ex­cept that males tend to be slightly larger, with larger wingspans. How­ever, fe­males some­times weigh more be­cause males have higher meta­bolic rates due to their ten­dency to sing. ("Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos", 1999; "Nightin­gale", 2008; Faye, 2008; Mead, 1998; Robin­son, 2008; Thomas, 2002)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes alike
  • male larger
  • Range mass
    18 to 23 g
    0.63 to 0.81 oz
  • Average mass
    21 g
    0.74 oz
  • Range length
    14 to 17 cm
    5.51 to 6.69 in
  • Average length
    16.5 cm
    6.50 in
  • Range wingspan
    20 to 24 cm
    7.87 to 9.45 in
  • Average wingspan
    22.5 cm
    8.86 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

One of the most no­table char­ac­ter­is­tics of com­mon nightin­gales is their beau­ti­ful singing abil­ity, es­pe­cially by male birds. Com­mon nightin­gales are well known for singing dur­ing the night, hence their name. Older males have im­proved mat­ing suc­cess due to their larger song reper­toire and ter­ri­tory, which at­tracts fe­males bet­ter. They are re­ported to have a 53% larger song reper­toire than younger males, and the reper­toire is re­ported to con­sist of ap­prox­i­mately 180 to 260 song vari­a­tions. Re­searchers have not dis­cov­ered yet why song reper­toire in­creases so dra­mat­i­cally in older males. Upon mat­ing suc­cess­fully, males change the types of their songs by re­duc­ing their whis­tle songs, which are used to at­tract fe­males, and ceas­ing their noc­tur­nal songs until their mate lays eggs. (Kiefer, et al., 2006; Kunc, et al., 2005; Kunc, et al., 2006a; Kunc, et al., 2006b; Schmidt, et al., 2006; Thomas, 2002)

The mat­ing sea­son is a highly com­pet­i­tive time for com­mon nightin­gales. It takes a tremen­dous amount of en­ergy to sing and male songs may re­flect their body con­di­tion, re­sult­ing in fe­male se­lec­tion of the best singers (Schmidt et al., 2005). More ag­gres­sively singing males will have a bet­ter chance of mat­ing suc­cess. Up to 49% of males may not suc­cess­fully find a mate. Males de­fend their nest ter­ri­tory very ag­gres­sively, fight­ing and chas­ing away tres­pass­ing birds. (Kiefer, et al., 2006; Kunc, et al., 2005; Kunc, et al., 2006a; Kunc, et al., 2006b; Rothen­berg, 2005; Schmidt, et al., 2006)

Com­mon nightin­gales are sea­son­ally monog­a­mous. ("Nightin­gale", 2008; Robin­son, 2008)

Breed­ing in com­mon nightin­gales takes place around mid-May each year. Nests are usu­ally set up by the fe­male among the twigs found in dense shrubs, using dried leaves and grass. In­cu­ba­tion lasts ap­prox­i­mately thir­teen to four­teen days by the fe­male. Each egg is 21 by 16 mm, weigh­ing 2.7 g, of which 6% is the shell. Com­mon nightin­gales reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at the age of one. ("Nightin­gale", 2008; Robin­son, 2008)

  • Breeding interval
    Common nightingales breed from May through June. First clutches can be expected around May 13th.
  • Breeding season
    Breeding typically occurs between May 5th and June 6th.
  • Range eggs per season
    4 to 5
  • Average eggs per season
    4.63
  • Range time to hatching
    13 to 14 days
  • Average time to hatching
    13.75 days
  • Range fledging age
    11 to 13 days
  • Average fledging age
    11.98 days
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    1 years
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    1 years

Be­fore the eggs hatch, the fe­male in­cu­bates the eggs, and both par­ents pro­ject the eggs from preda­tors. When the eggs hatch, both par­ents take care of the off­spring by feed­ing and nur­tur­ing them until they can sur­vive on their own. The fledg­ling pe­riod lasts be­tween 11 to 13 days. (Robin­son, 2008)

  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female
  • pre-independence
    • provisioning
      • male
      • female
    • protecting
      • male
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Com­mon nightin­gale typ­i­cal lifes­pan ranges from one to five years. The old­est recorded age is at 8 years and 4 months old. Al­though lit­tle is known about what typ­i­cally lim­its the lifes­pan of com­mon nightin­gales, there is no doubt that pre­da­tion and habi­tat re­duc­tion con­tribute to the rel­a­tively short lifes­pan. There has been no recorded lifes­pan of a nightin­gale in cap­tiv­ity. ("Com­mon Nightin­gale", 2008; Rothen­berg, 2005)

  • Range lifespan
    Status: wild
    1 to 8 years
  • Average lifespan
    Status: wild
    5 years
  • Typical lifespan
    Status: wild
    1 to 5 years
  • Average lifespan
    Status: wild
    3.8 years

Be­hav­ior

Com­mon nightin­gales are soli­tary out­side of the breed­ing sea­son. They mi­grate to the African trop­ics in the win­ter. Com­mon nightin­gales are ter­ri­to­r­ial, but there are no so­cial hi­er­ar­chies. Males be­come even more ter­ri­to­r­ial dur­ing mat­ing sea­son, when they en­gage in song con­tests to at­tract fe­males. Com­mon nightin­gale songs can be di­vided into two cat­e­gories, whis­tle songs and non-whis­tle songs. Whis­tle songs are dis­tinct and used most often in ter­ri­to­r­ial de­fense and mate at­trac­tion (Kiefer et al., 2006). Males re­spond ag­gres­sively to other males who may be en­ter­ing their ter­ri­tory.

Not much is known about com­mon nightin­gale be­hav­ior be­cause they are small and pre­fer to hide in thick scrubs. Un­less mi­grat­ing, they fly only short dis­tances, from branch to branch. It is more com­mon for peo­ple to hear them than see them. (Kiefer, et al., 2006; Kunc, et al., 2006a)

Home Range

Home range sizes are not known in com­mon nightin­gales. (Kiefer, et al., 2006; Kunc, et al., 2006a)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Com­mon nightin­gales com­mu­ni­cate with oth­ers by singing whis­tle and non-whis­tle songs. Whis­tle songs are used dur­ing breed­ing sea­son. The num­ber of whis­tle songs de­crease when males suc­cess­fully mate. When try­ing to at­tract a fe­male, a male will sing for up to 50% of the night. Males lose weight each night when they sing (Thomas, 2002). There are sev­eral meta­bolic con­se­quences to singing at night, one of which is that com­mon nightin­gales must spend time dur­ing the day look­ing for food in order to build up a larger body re­serve, thereby giv­ing up the time that it could take to sing and in­creas­ing the chance of being seen by preda­tors. (Kunc, et al., 2005; Kunc, et al., 2006a; Kunc, et al., 2006b; Thomas, 2002)

Food Habits

Com­mon nightin­gales are pri­mar­ily in­sec­ti­vores, prey­ing on in­sects such as bee­tles, ants, worms, and spi­ders found on the ground. They also eat in­sect lar­vae. In the au­tumn com­mon nightin­gales some­times eat berries and other fruits. ("Nightin­gale", 2008; Mead, 1998; Robin­son, 2008)

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods
  • terrestrial worms
  • Plant Foods
  • fruit

Pre­da­tion

The major known preda­tors of com­mon nightin­gales are tawny owls, Strix aluco. In order to de­crease their risk of pre­da­tion, com­mon nightin­gales tend to re­duce the amount and vol­ume of night time singing when not ac­tively at­tract­ing mates. (Rothen­berg, 2005)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Com­mon nightin­gales, like many song­birds, play an im­por­tant role in the ecosys­tem by eat­ing in­sects that may dam­age leaves and the growth of trees. Tawny owls prey on com­mon nightin­gales. (Rothen­berg, 2005)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Many peo­ple are fans of com­mon nightin­gale songs. These birds are im­por­tant in west­ern Eu­ro­pean cul­ture. Per­haps one of the most fa­mous roles is in the John Keats poem, "Ode to a Nightin­gale," in which the poet de­scribes the beauty of a nightin­gale's song. Tchaikovsky was said to be in­spired by the nightin­gale's song while com­pos­ing "The Nightin­gale", op. 60 no. 4. Stravin­sky also com­posed a piece re­fer­ring to the nightin­gale's song in "Song of the Nightin­gale and Chi­nese March". In­clud­ing re­search and ed­u­ca­tion, com­mon nightin­gales are im­por­tant for bird­watch­ers and peo­ple who ap­pre­ci­ate the beauty of their songs. ("Nightin­gale", 2008)

  • Positive Impacts
  • research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Changes in com­mon nightin­gale habi­tat qual­ity and quan­tity in Britain has re­sulted in a de­cline in the local pop­u­la­tion over the last two decades. The de­cline is also af­fected by pre­da­tion pres­sure and in­tro­duc­tion of non-na­tive species such as roe deer (Capre­o­lus capre­o­lus) which graze in nightin­gale habi­tat. Also, while com­mon nightin­gales pre­fer a mild cli­mate, Britain's cli­mate has re­cently be­come colder and wet­ter, which also con­tributes to the pop­u­la­tion de­cline. There has been spec­u­la­tion that these birds are fac­ing prob­lems in their win­ter­ing grounds due to changes in cli­mate and habi­tat as well. Ac­cord­ing to The State of Eu­rope’s Com­mon Birds 2007 re­port, com­mon nightin­gales ex­pe­ri­enced a 63% pop­u­la­tion de­cline in Eu­rope be­tween 1980 and 2005. Due to their im­por­tance in Britain, com­mon nightin­gales have been placed on the Amber List. ("Com­mon bird study re­veals fur­ther de­cline of Eu­rope's farm­land birds", 2007; "Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos", 2007; "Nightin­gale", 2008; Hew­son, et al., 2005; Mead, 1998; Wil­son, et al., 2002)

Other Com­ments

Com­mon nightin­gales, Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos, are also known as ru­fous nightin­gales. They are the na­tional birds of Iran. (Faye, 2008)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Hyo Song (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Mary­land, Bal­ti­more County, Kevin Om­land (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Mary­land, Bal­ti­more County.

Glossary

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carnivore

an animal that mainly eats meat

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

frugivore

an animal that mainly eats fruit

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

insectivore

An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

migratory

makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds

monogamous

Having one mate at a time.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

nocturnal

active during the night

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

solitary

lives alone

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

2008. "Com­mon Nightin­gale" (On-line). Bird Id. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​www.​birdid.​co.​uk/​DisplayBirdDetail.​asp.

2007. "Com­mon bird study re­veals fur­ther de­cline of Eu­rope's farm­land birds" (On-line). BirdLife In­ter­na­tional. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​www.​birdlife.​org/​news/​news/​2007/​12/​commonbird.​html.

2007. "Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos" (On-line). 2007 IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Speces. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​search/​details.​php/​51738/​all.

1999. "Lus­cinia Megarhyn­chos" (On-line). BirdGuides. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​www.​birdguides.​com/​html/​vidlib/​species/​Luscinia_​megarhynchos.​htm.

2008. "Nightin­gale" (On-line). British Gar­den Birds. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​garden-birds.​co.​uk/​birds/​nightingale.​htm.

Faye, S. 2008. "Nightin­gales" (On-line). Avian­Web: Wild Birds Re­sources. Ac­cessed April 20, 2008 at http://​www.​avianweb.​com/​nightingales.​html.

Hew­son, C., R. Fuller, C. Day. 2005. An In­ves­ti­ga­tion of Habi­tat Oc­cu­pancy by the Nightin­gale Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos with Re­spect to Pop­u­la­tion Change at the Edge of Its Range in Eng­land. Jour­nal of Or­nithol­ogy, 146: 244-248. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​www.​springerlink.​com/​content/​lm67g16478023218/​.

Kiefer, S., A. Spiess, S. Kip­per, R. Mundry, C. Som­mer, H. Hultsch. 2006. First-year com­mon nightin­gales (Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos) have smaller song-type reper­toire sizes than older males. Ethol­ogy, 112/12: 1217-1224. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​www.​blackwell-synergy.​com/​doi/​abs/​10.​1111/​j.​1439-0310.​2006.​01283.​x.

Kunc, H., V. Am­rhein, M. Naguib. 2006. Vocal in­ter­ac­tions in nightin­gales, Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos: more ag­gres­sive males have higher pair­ing suc­cess. AN­I­MAL BE­HAV­IOUR, 72: 25-30. Ac­cessed April 09, 2008 at http://​www.​sciencedirect.​com/​science?_​ob=ArticleURL&_​udi=B6W9W-4K2SKB6-2&_​user=1684811&_​rdoc=1&_​fmt=&_​orig=search&_​sort=d&​view=c&_​acct=C000054208&_​version=1&_​urlVersion=0&_​userid=1684811&​md5=9c311cc87b858e8954900a4f986ca601.

Kunc, H., V. Am­rhein, M. Naguib. 2005. Acoustic fea­tures of song cat­e­gories and their pos­si­ble im­pli­ca­tions for com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the com­mon nightin­gale (Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos). Be­hav­iour, 142: 1083-1097. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​umbc.​library.​ingentaconnect.​com/​content/​brill/​beh/​2005/​00000142/​00000008/​art00005?​token=004a18de42dcb2ce67232d45237b60246c6a532c2b672123553568263c7b3937bb3d6f9fd5.

Kunc, H., V. Am­rhein, M. Naguib. 2006. Vocal in­ter­ac­tions in com­mon nightin­gales (Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos): males take it easy after pair­ing. Be­hav­iour, 61: 557-563. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​www.​springerlink.​com/​content/​262n81w1r47v4221/​.

Mead, C. 1998. "Nightin­gale" (On-line). Bird On!. Ac­cessed April 21, 2008 at http://​www.​birdcare.​com/​bin/​showpage/​portraits/​ngportrait.

Robin­son, R. 2008. "BTO Bird­facts - Nightin­gale" (On-line). Bird­Facts: pro­files of birds oc­cur­ring in Britain & Ire­land. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​blx1.​bto.​org/​birdfacts/​results/​bob11040.​htm.

Rothen­berg, D. 2005. Why Birds Sing: A Jour­ney Through the Mys­tery of Bird Song. New York: Basic Books. Ac­cessed April 22, 2008 at http://​books.​google.​com/​books?​id=p5nOx6suVJIC&​pg=PA41&​lpg=PA41&​dq=nightingale+predators&​source=web&​ots=2cC05nI81C&​sig=W3jJuXOpFtcKapTPvoQGjThLITc&​hl=en#​PPA41,M1.

Schmidt, R., H. Kunc, V. Am­rhein, M. Naguib. 2006. Re­sponses to in­ter­ac­tive play­back pre­dict fu­ture mat­ing suc­cess in nightin­gales. An­i­mal Be­hav­iour, 72: 1355-1362. Ac­cessed April 20, 2008 at http://​www.​sciencedirect.​com/​science?_​ob=ArticleURL&_​udi=B6W9W-4M27X59-5&_​user=1684811&_​rdoc=1&_​fmt=&_​orig=search&_​sort=d&​view=c&_​acct=C000054208&_​version=1&_​urlVersion=0&_​userid=1684811&​md5=71c36d765aeb52848b1e0a4f4bf6b506.

Thomas, R. 2002. Costs of Singing in Nightin­gales. An­i­mal Be­hav­iour, 63/5: 959-966. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​www.​sciencedirect.​com/​science?_​ob=ArticleURL&_​udi=B6W9W-463X82V-G&_​user=1684811&_​rdoc=1&_​fmt=&_​orig=search&_​sort=d&​view=c&_​acct=C000054208&_​version=1&_​urlVersion=0&_​userid=1684811&​md5=e6289d60a69ea29801d18c2d28171d48.

Uri, G. 2002. "Com­mon Nightin­gale" (On-line). Stamps of Is­raeli Birds. Ac­cessed April 09, 2008 at http://​my.​ort.​org.​il/​holon/​birds/​bd5.​html.

Wil­son, A., A. Hen­der­son, R. Fuller. 2002. Sta­tus of the Nightin­gale Lus­cinia megarhyn­chos in Britain at the End of the 20th Cen­tury with Par­tic­u­lar Ref­er­ence to Cli­mate Change. Bird Study, 49: 193-204. Ac­cessed April 01, 2008 at http://​umbc.​library.​ingentaconnect.​com/​content/​bto/​bird/​2002/​00000049/​00000003/​493193?​token=00471f641b148f0b65d9d223f582f476d383a4b3b257b6e7b455f3f6a38383a412820a7.