Nightingale

LATIN NAME: Luscinia Megarhynchos

DESCRIPTION
COLOUR: It is brown above, with rusty-red tail and rump, grey-buff below with diffusely paler throat. This bird has also black eye markings that make it easy to identify.
Adults (sexes similar) are russet-brown above with more rufous tail and rump.
SIZE: 16½ cm (6½")

FOOD: Insects

HABITAT: Nightingales like dense thickets and scrub with thick foliage. The edges of clearings or rides, or clumps of bushes surrounded by heath or open space, are ideal.
They feed deep in secluded thickets or overgrown ditches and similar places. In southern England, they breed in clumps of blackthorn and other dense bushes. Many are found in oakwoods with a dense undergrowth.

MIGRATION: In winter they are found in Africa, in savannah
habitats with patches of bushes and trees scattered
through open grassland.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND BIRD:

LIFE SPAN: Maximum of 8 years

BIRD SONG: A rich, mellow and loud song; a soft 'hweet' call

photo : Alain Fossé