Common nightingale

Luscinia megarhynchos Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now away for the winter 189 days

away for the winter Bird summer visitor

The whole year

20 September – 10 April

the coastal calendar, shifted 10 days later for this region

Sitting the year outGetting readyYoung aboutYoung leaving

Where to look

Dense scrub beside water, and thickets no one has cleared; almost never in the open.

Worth knowing

Night song is unpaired males only. It stops abruptly once a female settles, so the famous singing lasts about three weeks per bird and the end of it is a success, not a departure.

Look it up

photos, sightings and recordings, off this site

iNaturalist — photos and where people are seeing it Wikipedia — Luscinia megarhynchos xeno-canto — recordings of the call

Regions

where this species is on the list

Dalmatian coastKvarner and IstriaVelebit and the DinaridesSlavonia and the Pannonian plainTukhlia, Ukrainian Carpathians

Phase by phase

dates as they fall in the region chosen above

Phase	When	Length	What it means
away for the winter	20 September – 10 April	203 days	Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south.
arriving	11 April – 24 April	14 days	Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak.
courting	25 April – 14 May	20 days	Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming.
on eggs	15 May – 29 May	15 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	30 May – 19 June	21 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young have left	20 June – 24 August	66 days	Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults.
leaving	25 August – 19 September	26 days	Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind.

Other birds in this region

Barn swallowBlue rock thrushCommon cuckooCommon ravenCommon swiftEurasian scops owlEuropean bee-eaterEuropean robinGreat spotted woodpeckerGreat titGriffon vultureHoopoeSardinian warblerTawny owlYellow-legged gull

← All species