The Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) is one of Europe's most celebrated songsters, though its appearance gives little hint of its voice: an unassuming, olive-brown bird above with a pale greyish underside and only faint, indistinct brown mottling on the breast, and a rust-brown tail that flashes as it slips through dense cover. It measures 15–17 cm, has a wingspan of about 24–26 cm and weighs 22–28 grams, with males and females looking alike — making the species considerably easier to hear than to see.
Its song is legendary: unusually powerful and packed with deep, clear trills, clicking sounds and whistles, typically opening with a series of accelerating notes — a rising "du-du-du-du" — that spills into a rolling phrase, and delivered readily at night. It is this nocturnal habit that has given the bird its Swedish name, meaning roughly "night singer." Thrush Nightingales breed across southern and central Sweden, north to about the Mälardalen region with scattered outlying records further north, in a population estimated at 20,000–40,000 pairs, favouring dense deciduous vegetation near water such as alder swamp forest, thickets and well-vegetated parks and gardens with undergrowth thick enough to hide a nest. Arriving in mid-May, males sing most intensely until midsummer, after which they largely fall silent following mating, and the birds depart again in July to September, wintering in southeastern Africa, chiefly Tanzania and Mozambique. The nest is built on or very near the ground, hidden in thick vegetation, and the female lays four or five eggs incubated for about two weeks; the diet consists of insects, worms and larvae gleaned from the damp ground layer. The species is designated the provincial bird of Öland.
Read about this species in Swedish →