adult

adult European distribution male singing in tree

Identification

Thrush Nightingales are usually very difficult birds to see clearly in the field and notoriously difficult to separate from Nightingales. The most obvious feature to look for is the mottled breast, but this is by no means the only differing feature. Given a very good view it can also often be noticed that the Thrush Nightingale is duller, darker and greyer, both above and below, than a Nightingale. Also, it has only a limited white throat, so the whole head looks uniformly dark.

Habitat

Breeds in woodland, copses and thickets with lush undergrowth.

Behaviour

It is thought that Nightingale and Thrush Nightingale were once the same species which retreated into two different areas when the ice advanced during one of the Ice Ages. Nightingales moved to Iberia and Thrush Nightingales retreated to the Balkans. Then, when the glaciers disappeared both populations moved back, but in the meantime they had evolved differences in song, plumage and display which prevents them from mating with each other, even in the areas where they now overlap. This process of speciation is still incomplete, however, and some hybridisation still occurs.

Migration

Migratory with birds wintering in sub-equatorial Africa, particularly Kenya.

This information is taken from the BirdFile on the appropriate BirdGuides DVD-ROM. As well as video and sounds, our CD- and DVD-ROMs contain additional text on Voice, Sexing, Ageing, Food, Nests and Eggs and more.

For the purposes of our bird news services, Thrush Nightingale is classed as Rare: species currently considered for acceptance by the British Birds Rarities Committee (or forms of equivalent rarity).

Elenite, Bulgaria 10/09/2009	House Garden, Saudi Arabia 03/05/2009	Salisbury Plain, Wilts 09/08/2008	Salisbury Plain, Wilts 09/08/2008	Cyprus, Cyprus 27/04/2008
Duni, Bulgaria 17/09/2007	Fair Isle, Shetland 28/09/2007	Bialowieza, Poland 07/05/2007	Fair Isle, Shetland 25/10/2006	Fair Isle, Shetland 05/09/2005

 View all pictures of Thrush Nightingale

This species has been reported in the following areas (Bird News Extra subscribers can click a county name for more details):

Thrush Nightingale breeds in the following countries (Bird News Extra subscribers will see population statistics and information on trends for each country):

Belarus
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Germany
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Sweden
Ukraine

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