What does a nightingale sound like?
A nightingale sings a loud, rich and very varied song: deep repeated 'chook-chook' notes, rapid trills and slow whistles that swell in volume, often in the middle of the night.
Summer Forest Bird Sounds for Sleeping • Black Screen • 12H
The common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is a plain brown bird hidden in dense bushes, so most people know it only by ear. What makes the song stand out is the contrast: fast, clicking phrases followed by long, pure notes that rise in a crescendo, with short pauses between.
Males sing by day as well, but the night song is the famous one. Unpaired males sing at night to attract females, mostly from late April to June. In eastern Poland the closely related thrush nightingale sings a similar, deeper song.
Our 12-hour black screen recording from a summer forest has a nightingale marked in its chapters. The timestamp below jumps to it.
Where to hear it in our recordings
- 2:40:22 — common nightingale, summer forest at night (black screen)
Quick questions
Why do nightingales sing at night?
Mostly unpaired males singing to attract a female. Once paired, they sing less at night.
When can you hear a nightingale?
From late April to June. After that the song stops for the year.