Common nightingale

Luscinia megarhynchos Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now leaving 0 days

leaving Bird summer visitor

The whole year

8 September – 3 October

the coastal calendar, shifted 24 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	4 October – 24 April	203 days	Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south.
arriving	25 April – 8 May	14 days	Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak.
courting	9 May – 28 May	20 days	Song, display, fighting, scent-marking — pairs forming or reaffirming.
on eggs	29 May – 12 June	15 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	13 June – 3 July	21 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young have left	4 July – 7 September	66 days	Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults.
leaving	8 September – 3 October	26 days	Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind.

Other birds in this region

Barn swallowBlack storkCommon cuckooCommon ravenCommon swiftEuropean robinGreat spotted woodpeckerGreat titGriffon vultureTawny owl

← All species