Everyone has heard the nightingale's songs. This inconspicuous bird looks like a sparrow. If not for her amazing trills, she would be of interest to ornithologists and passionate bird lovers rather than to the “general public.” It is difficult to determine the location of the cautious and secretive nightingale when it does not sing. At the moment of singing, the bird forgets about danger. She lowers her wings and gives herself completely to singing.
Nightingale. Photo from Wikipedia
Nightingales belong to the order Passeriformes . This migratory birds , which fly towards North Africa for the winter. They return to us in the spring. The very first - by mid-April, most of them - after the appearance of insects, when young leaves begin to bloom on trees and bushes. Nightingales settle on the edges of forests, in thickets of bushes along river banks, in parks and gardens.
In spring other birds also sing: (robins) And . Sometimes their ringing melodic trills are confused with the songs of nightingales.
The weight of the nightingale is about 25 g. Common (eastern) the nightingale is larger and darker southern (western). The color of the plumage is brownish-gray, slightly brighter on the throat and chest. The abdomen (especially in young birds) is variegated. The eyes are large and dark. The straight tail may be rounded at the end. If the nightingale is sitting, it often lifts it up and down. The nightingale jumps along the ground, twitching its tail and bowing.
In most of Russia (including the south Western Siberia) and in Eastern Europe they hear a characteristic sonorous singing common nightingale (eastern), which is characterized by a sharp change in rhythm, rolling sound, whistles, trills and clicks.
In the European part of Russia (western and southern) it is found southern (western) nightingale. It is lighter than the common (eastern) nightingale. In flight, this bird is distinguished by its rufous rump and tail. The singing is sonorous. A long, sonorous song can have more than ten beats.
There are other types of nightingale. In Siberia and Far East lives rubythroat nightingale with a bright red throat in the male. This species in Russia nests in the Urals, on the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.
Blue Nightingale smaller than a sparrow, its song is a loud trill. The species is found from the Ob basin to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan.
For whistling nightingale characterized by a short whistle trill. Its habitat in Russia is the southern part of Siberia, the territory up to Sakhalin and Kamchatka.
There are other types.
Nightingales eat mainly insects. They eat with pleasure and peck at bugs and spiders. The diet includes ants and worms. From the end of summer they can taste berries and fruits.
We hear the song of the nightingale more often in spring and early summer. As soon as a bird flies to our region, it settles within a few days and then makes calls. These short songs are described by ornithologists as “ fiuit-trr" And " fu».
For about two weeks, the nightingale's song can be heard around the clock with a short break in the middle of the day. Then ringing singing begins at sunset, often at dusk. It lasts all night until morning dawn, less frequently resumes during the day. You can enjoy the songs of the nightingale until the end of June.
If you disturb a nightingale, it will make a low whistle.
There are no analogues to nightingale singing. They say that each nightingale has its own timbre, fullness of sounds and a unique melody. Sometimes nightingales imitate other birds. They can insert different sounds they hear into their song. This ability to imitate is clearly expressed in young birds, which take singing lessons from their elders.
In the songs of nightingales near Moscow there are usually up to ten knees. In some areas, birds can be heard with up to 40 tribes in their long songs!
Bird experts highlight calls, chants and themselves songs.
Nightingales are vulnerable. Not only at the moment of selfless singing, but also during the nesting period. Birds build cup-shaped nests(up to 10 cm in diameter) on the ground or on the lower branches of a bush. IN end of May There are already olive-brown eggs in the nest. For each pair of nightingales there are from 4 to 6 testicles. June - time of appearance of chicks. They grow quickly and are able to fly away with adult birds to warmer regions already from the end of August or in September .
This only happens when the bird and its offspring have not become food for other animals or victims of accidents. Often well-fed domestic cats destroy vocal nightingales. This is so easy to prevent if you train your cat to wear a thin collar with a bell! A friend of mine, whose goofy cat destroyed several nightingales singing nearby in a few days, began buying him special bells. The cat often lost them, so I had to hang new ones. Ready-made collars with bells and miniature bells are also sold. It's all inexpensive.
Nightingales can live in captivity. In pre-revolutionary Rus' it was widely developed nightingale fishing. IN late XIX century, we even had to fight it at the legislative level. In some provinces, complete or partial bans on nightingale fishing were introduced. It was allowed to catch birds only at the very beginning of their arrival before the formation of pairs. Cages with wooden rods were specially made for nightingales.
Nowadays, songbird lovers keep nightingales at home. They are usually caught in the spring. Captured birds have their wings tied and are trained for captivity. Having stopped beating and started feeding in captivity, the nightingale begins to sing. Timidly at first, then bolder.
The birds quickly get used to the cage, but do not become completely tame. Keeping them is troublesome, but with proper care, nightingales can live five to seven years, rarely longer. The cage should be large, with high walls and a cloth top ( required condition at first time). It would be better if an enclosure was made. In a cramped cage, a nightingale is sure to become dangerously obese.
The first days the bird fights, risking injury. Therefore, the cell (especially top part) tight soft cloth and covered with translucent material. While singing, it is advisable to cover the cage with a white cloth. It is better to keep shy nightingales under such cover most of the time.
This insectivorous bird is fed three times a day. Mealyworms(at least 8 pieces per day), ant eggs And chopped chicken eggs . Gradually introduce into the diet grated carrots, lettuce, sprouted grains and they give very little ground crackers(white bread only). It is recommended to give crushed cooked meat. Gradually the nightingales are transferred to ready-made feed mixtures with addition vitamins And mineral water.
Some lovers of nightingale singing at home could not stand it for long. They regularly did not get enough sleep, because all night a melodious “alarm clock” was ringing loudly next to their ears. Household members also protested, because They could only sleep with earplugs in their ears.
In captivity, singing continues for up to eight weeks. Sometimes the nightingale is then released into the wild. It’s bad if you’re in a “concrete jungle” with infill development. It’s correct if they take it to a park or forested area.
© "Podmoskovye", 2012-2018. Copying texts and photographs from the site podmoskоvje.com is prohibited. All rights reserved.Anyone who did not hear the romantic trill of a nightingale on a quiet spring or summer evening has lost a lot in this life. Once you hear this singing, you involuntarily become a fan, an admirer of this incomparable and unforgettable solo, taking you into the world of happiness and joy, closer to something bright and good.
Only such sensations are caused by this singing, which includes clicking, whistling and rumble at the same time. It is impossible to forget the nightingale's solo, but once you get into the nightingale grove and hear the singing of many of these birds, your mood immediately rises with lightning speed, you involuntarily forget about your problems and troubles.
A fairy tale in which there is only you and these beautiful, fantastic sounds. It is truly unforgettable and worth a lot. The impressions are simply indescribable. The nightingale is a symbol of light, beauty, purity and harmony.
Listening to their melody, people involuntarily imagine some kind of fabulous firebird in their imagination. Is it really? What does this singer look like?
nightingale bird, which actually looks very modest. His gorgeous voice doesn't quite suit the modest appearance. Small in size, no larger than a sparrow, with brown plumage, small thin legs and large eyes, the bird is inconspicuous at first glance, but how much inner strength it has in its voice.
How much this bird made different hearts beat in unison with its songs, how much hope for a bright future it could instill in disillusioned people. Nightingale in the photo does not quite correspond to his real strength and energy. Those who have ever heard birds singing nightingale remained forever in their captivity.
Features and habitat of the nightingale
Nightingales are divided into two types - ordinary, those that prefer European countries and Siberia, and in winter they fly to East Africa And southern, which are so called due to the fact that they live closer to the southern regions.
Pictured is a southern nightingale
From observations it was concluded that the talent for singing is more inherent in the common nightingale, but the southern one is not particularly inferior to it in this. There are also nightingales that live mainly in Transcaucasia and Asia. They also try to sing, although they are not very good at it, like ordinary and southern ones.
Deciduous forests, slightly damp, dense bushes - these are the places that these birds love. The main thing is that there are dense thickets and more sun. If the place is favorable for them, you can hear their trill at a distance of 10-15 meters from each other, which merges into an incomparable melody of happiness.
Character and lifestyle of the nightingale
After wintering in East Africa, when spring comes into its own in Siberia and Europe, when the trees gradually dress in green clothes, the nightingales return to their former place. Parks near a pond, thickets of willow and lilac, young trees on the edges - this is what attracts the nightingale.
This is a cautious and secretive bird. She tries not to catch people's eyes and she does it very well. Only in dense bushes the nightingale can allow itself to descend to the ground. While singing, the nightingale abstracts itself from everyone and everything. If you're lucky, you might see him sitting on a branch with his head held high and his throat open.
The nightingale's arrival time is the second half of May - early June. The first thing you hear is the trill of the male nightingale; they arrive first. Birds sing day and night, but at night the beauty of their singing is heard much more clearly due to the absence of extraneous noise.
Therefore, many nightingale fans go to the forest at night to enjoy their singing and at least temporarily plunge into the world of an unforgettable fairy tale. Nightingale, what bird? It belongs to the category of those birds, which, having heard once, can never be forgotten again.
Only not every bird has the gift of singing, from which one can be heard. Here, just as with people, the factor of heredity comes into play. To the question nightingale migrant or not cannot be answered unambiguously. Those who live in the southern regions do not need to fly, so they lead a sedentary lifestyle. All other species of nightingale are, yes, migratory.
Nightingales prefer to live in pairs. The first days after a long flight, the birds are simply silent, resting and acclimating. After this time, they can sing in search of a female day and night, only occasionally interrupting for a meal.
When the male has decided on the female, while she is busy building the nest, the male does not take part in this, but continues to sing. With his singing, he warns his fellows that this is his female and his territory.
And only while feeding the babies does the male begin to help the female nurse them. Nests are built by females on the ground, sometimes on bushes, at a height of 1-1.5 meters. It takes the female about a week to do this.
Reproduction and lifespan of the nightingale
The nightingale bird sings while his female lays eggs and incubates them. On average, they lay 4 to 6 eggs, and immediately after laying the last egg they begin to incubate them.
All this time, the male does not take any part in laying and incubating eggs; he constantly entertains the female with his beautiful singing. After about two weeks, the male becomes silent. This means that chicks have appeared in the nest and he does not want to attract strangers to their home.
The photo shows a nightingale's nest
His time has finally come; the male is persistently searching for food for his children. Caring parents nurse their little chicks together for two weeks.
Small birds cannot fly right away. They walk carefully around the nest. And only at the end of August, the already fledged and strong birds are ready to leave the nest with their parents and fly to warmer climes. Nightingale wintering bird teaches your kids to adapt to possible changes V weather conditions and probable cold snaps.
Nightingale feeding
Ants, beetles, bedbugs, spiders, caterpillars, centipedes and mollusks are the nightingale's favorite delicacy. IN autumn time They can also eat berries and fruits. Nightingale bird voices you can find and download on any portal and listen to their exciting trill at any time of the day.
The nightingale, a night singer, is equally loved on all continents for his wonderful, melodic voice. He often became a source of inspiration for creative people. The nightingale was glorified in their works by such famous poets as John Keats.
The song of a nightingale heard once will forever remain in the heart and memory.. Many romantic events are associated with these birds. This is most likely due to their innate tendency to attract females with their whistles. After all, it is the “single” males who do not have a mate who sing immediately upon returning from warm regions to attract future lovers. Who would have thought that birds could be so romantic?
The nightingale is considered a nocturnal bird. They sing their songs for days on end, only occasionally breaking off to feed. They received the title of nightlings because many lovers of nightingales sing in the thickets at night. Because at this time of day their vocals are heard best, because they are not disturbed by extraneous sounds from the surrounding world. At these moments, the famous “vocalists” sing louder and louder. Therefore, the night is best time for those who want to enjoy their singing.
But the songs of the nightingale can also be heard at dawn. Notes and modulations take on different forms depending on the purpose of singing and external circumstances. For example, in case of danger, his screams become similar to the croaking of a toad.
It has long been believed that such a skilled singer should have the same beautiful plumage and fancy coloring. However, the nightingale looks quite ordinary. He looks more like an ordinary sparrow than a unique bird with such a wonderful voice.
This is interesting! The nightingale has vague gray markings on the chest, like the song thrush, and a duller upperparts.
The nightingale, like the sparrow, has small black lively eyes, a thin beak, and gray and brown plumage. He even has the same sharp reddish tail. But unlike the sparrow, which scurries around, the nightingale hides from human eyes. Seeing him live with your own eyes is a great success. Fortunately, this rarity is compensated by the huge number of photos of the “singer” on the Internet.
Also, if you look closely, the nightingale has slightly larger legs and eyes. The body plumage has a reddish-olive tint; the feathers on the chest and neck of the bird are brighter, so much so that you can even see individual feathers.
Nightingales are divided into two types: common and southern. Common ones prefer the lands of Siberia and Europe for nesting. Unlike its relative, the common nightingale is limited to lowlands and avoids dry areas. Southern representatives of the species settle closer to warm southern regions.
Both birds settle in the forest near water, and they are very similar in appearance. Their voices are difficult to distinguish, but the song of the southern nightingale is more universal, containing fewer harsh sounds, but weaker than that of its relative. The western common representative has a lighter belly than that of its relative. There are also nightingales, which live mostly in Transcaucasia and Asia. But they sing much worse than the above representatives.
Unlike most birds, they are antisocial and prefer solitude. An ideal habitat for a nightingale should include dense forests or woodlands. Large thickets and abundance sunlight– ideal conditions for the nightingale bird. They prefer to be away from settlements. Nightingales are migratory birds that can travel any distance in search of ideal climatic and territorial conditions.
This is interesting! The quiet version of the song is intended for a specific female, during the immediate period of courtship.
Their song changes depending on the season and circumstances. They are the most vocally gifted representatives of the avian world. Male nightingales sing loudest at night in late spring, when they return from wintering. They do this in order to attract a female and announce to all relatives that this territory is now his. During the day, his songs are less varied and delivered to the audience in shorter bursts.
In conditions wildlife nightingales live from 3 to 4 years. In captivity, in a home environment with sufficient good care, these birds live up to 7 years.
The nightingale, due to its wide distribution in England, is considered an English bird. These singers are a common sight in forests, parks and playgrounds. Nightingales are also found in other countries such as Portugal, Spain, Persia, Arabia, Austria, Hungary and Africa. Breeds in Europe, North-West Africa, the Balkans and the south-west Central Asia; winter south of the Sahara, from West Africa to Uganda. This singing bird bears the title national symbol Iran.
The nightingale prefers low areas tangled with deciduous forests.. Thickets of bushes and all kinds of hedges are a suitable place of residence for the nightingale. But to a greater extent, the nightingale is a low-lying bird.
Nightingales inhabit many areas near rivers or swimming pools, although they can also live on dry hillsides, in low growing bushes among the coastal sand dunes. When singing during the day, the nightingale often changes its location, but night songs are usually staged from the same positions. He sings in two three-hour arias at night. The first aria ends around midnight, and the second begins early in the morning.
Like many other birds, the nightingale's diet consists of fruits, plants, seeds and nuts. When food is scarce, they may turn to insects. This happens especially often during the breeding season. At this time, their menu consists of all kinds of insects and invertebrates. Layers of fallen leaves are a favorite hunting spot for the nightingale. There he looks for ants, maggots and beetles. If there are none, it eats caterpillars, spiders and earthworms.
The nightingale can attack prey by flying from low branches, or get food from the bark while sitting on a tree. On rare occasions, it catches in the air and eats winged insects such as moths and small butterflies.
This is interesting! At the end of summer, the bird adds berries to the menu. Autumn brings many new feeding opportunities and the nightingale sets out in search of wild cherries, elderberries, sloe and currants.
In captivity, they are fed mealworms, maggots, grated carrots, or ready-made mixtures developed specifically for insectivorous birds. Although, taming a nightingale at home, unfortunately, is very rare. Seeing him is a matter of great luck, not to mention catching and taming him. Taming a wild nightingale requires remarkable endurance, self-control and tenderness. Closed in captivity, he can beat his whole body against the bars of his cage for days on end until he weakens or disappears altogether. Until the 19th century, domesticated nightingales in Russian provinces were considered a fashionable curiosity, which is why they almost found themselves on the verge of extinction.
Who doesn’t know that the nightingale sings the best bird on earth. A photo of a natural singer, as well as an audio recording of divine singing in our article.
The nightingale belongs to the thrush family of birds. Sexual dimorphism in these birds is not pronounced. The nightingale is a slender bird, slightly larger than a sparrow. The coloration is dominated by reddish-olive-gray tones, a little brighter on the chest, and the belly is ocher-variegated. The eyes are large, dark, like beads. The nightingale holds its tail straight, and when it sits on a branch, it alternately raises and lowers it.
In nature there are 2 species: the common or eastern nightingale and the southern nightingale. They are common in eastern Europe and western Siberia. The southern nightingale has a slightly wider habitat - in addition to Europe, it can be found in the north and west of Africa, in Asia. The nightingale is a migratory bird. The wintering grounds of these birds are far away - in northern Africa, Arabia and southern Iran. Birds arrive home no earlier than mid-April, when the trees are already green and many insects are flying. Nightingales' nests are located on marshy areas in dense thickets of bushes, in thickets on the edges of forests, in gardens and parks.
Nightingales begin to sing a few days after arriving from distant countries where they spent the winter. The singers sing day and night in the first few weeks, and later throughout the night from dawn to dusk. The famous songs of the common nightingale are very original, they are rich in whistling, clicking and rumbling sounds.
An absolutely surprisingly tender song gives way to a loud one, a joyful one to a sad one. Listening to the nightingale's singing, are you involuntarily amazed by the variety, fullness and power of sounds? Isn’t it amazing that such a small and, at first glance, inconspicuous bird can sing so beautifully?
Young individuals learn the art of singing from their elders and imitate them. Therefore, where the amazing singing of one nightingale is heard, others soon appear, and they all sing in chorus.
Favorite nesting places for nightingales are river banks, shady thickets of bushes in damp forest ravines and deciduous forests, bushes in parks, groves, and gardens. Nests are located on the ground, near the roots of bushes and trees. The construction of the nest is carried out using half-decayed leaves, thin twigs, dry grass stems, and wide sedge leaves. The nest tray is lined with thin cereal stems and leaves, as well as the thinnest roots or horsehairs.
The clutch contains from 3 to 6 eggs, colored olive or brown-olive.
The nightingale is a bird that feeds primarily on insects: bugs, ants, worms and spiders. IN autumn time birds can eat berries and fruits. Like most birds, nightingales eat insects that harm the leaves and growth of trees, thereby providing a good service to our ecosystem.
It’s probably not in vain that nature intended it this way - all the chicks have an inconspicuous coloring. Nightingale chicks are no exception. The natural enemies of nightingales are
Nightingale (lat. Luscinia Luscinia)- a songbird with very nondescript plumage. Many people, hearing the clear trills of a nightingale, expect to see a bright color; in fact, the body of representatives of this species is olive-brown. The tail is dark, with a reddish tint, the belly is whitish, the sides are gray-brown. A gray-yellow spot can be seen on the crop. The size of the nightingale is slightly larger than the sparrow, weighs about 25 grams, and the body length is up to 20 cm.
The nightingale's habitat is quite wide: it is found in all countries of Eastern Europe, in Western Siberia, flies to East Africa for the winter. For nesting, nightingales choose forest edges, bushes near water bodies, parks, groves, and gardens. The main varieties of nightingale are southern, western, eastern, common, Chinese and others. You can see the types of nightingales in the video below.
photo: Southern Nightingale
The main part of the nightingale's diet is live food - ant eggs, insects, worms, small spiders. Also, nightingales willingly peck ripe berries; you can feed the birds with grain mixtures, maggots, grated carrots, white cracker crumbs, and so on.
photo: White-browed nightingale
Nightingales are often kept in captivity, but it is worth remembering that these birds are very shy. The caught nightingale struggles in the cage for the first time, so it is recommended to cover it with thick material and at first approach the new pet less often. The cage dimensions should be 40x60x30 cm; it is better to choose cages with wooden rods. Equip them with drinkers, feeders, perches, toys, and a house. The nightingale sings not all year round, in autumn and winter birds rarely delight with trills. During this period, they are transferred to surrogate food - a mixture of white crackers with ant eggs and grated carrots. In captivity, representatives of this species live 3-5 years.
In nature, the nightingale makes a nest in the roots of trees or shrubs; it is built from thin twigs, leaves, grass stems, and roots. In one clutch there are from 4 to 6 eggs of a brownish color, without mottling. After 14-15 days, the chicks are born and are fed by both parents.
photo: Nightingale - the best singer among songbirds
Watch the video about various types nightingales accompanied by the singing of an ordinary nightingale and the brilliant music of Beethoven.
