Nightingales can reach 5.9 to 6.5 inches in length. Their colors aren’t particularly eye-catching with plain brown plumage, a reddish tail, and light colored underneath.

It is only the male nightingale that sings, which is ironic since most early poems had nightingales as females. Usually it is only the unmated males that will be active at night to attract a mate while all nightingale males sing at dawn to defend their territory.

Nightingales sing during the day and night, but the songs are more obvious at night since fewer birds are singing. Their songs are made up of 200 different phrases of loud whistles, gurgles, and trills.

Combining their plain coloring with the dense vegetation they perch in makes seeing a male nightingale sing a rare treat!

Listening to the speed and crescendos of the nightingales’ songs can even tell you the subspecies of nightingale!

The common nightingale is not found naturally in the Americas but instead lives mostly in Europe and Asia while wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa. This bird prefers dense vegetation and will nest near the ground in it.  

Nightingales are classified as omnivorous; during the spring and summer they eat insects like beetles, gnats, worms, spiders, and more, while in autumn they’ll eat more berries and seeds. Nightingales can be seen hopping on the ground to forage for food, perching and waiting, or flying and pursuing depending on what they’re looking for.

Nightingales are usually solitary birds before coming together for their mating season around May and June. Males will sing their melodious songs to attract females; however, only little chirps are made during nesting season as loud melodies could attract predators to their nests.

These cup-shaped nests are built either on or close to the ground where the female will lay 4-6 eggs. The male provides the female food while she incubates them for a little over 2 weeks.

After the eggs hatch, both parents care for the chicks until they can fly on their own after 2 weeks. The chicks will start independent lives 2-4 weeks following that.

As the common nightingale is known for its beautiful songs, its name is a combination of “night” and the Old English word galan which means “to sing.”

Predators of the nightingale include cats, snakes, birds of prey, foxes, lizards, and rats.