Interesting Facts About Nightingales

Music and signing have always been associated with feelings of happiness and relaxation. You might have a piano and playing that under the piano light emitting from the grand piano lamp, might give you ultimate peace of mind. Sometimes, you might like to sing along as well to explain your joy. However, if you think humans are the only ones to sing, think again! Birds are among those other animals who like to sing when they are happy. Among these singing birds, it is a nightingale that is the most famous singing bird.

Apart from its habitat, dietary habits, temperament and life span, you might not know much about a nightingale. In fact, there are a few facts about them that you might not have heard about:

* The term nightingale stands for “night songstress”. According to this, one might assume that it is the female bird that sings. However, in reality, it is the opposite. The high-pitched melodious voice is actually of the male.

* At the time of when the egg hatches, a male nightingale will stop singing. It does this in order to avoid gaining any attention towards itself and its kids. However, it may whisper little chirps to the female to let it know of their safety or any potential danger.

* It is very difficult to differentiate a male nightingale from a female. This is because the differences in between them are too slight to be noticeable. The male has slightly a yellowish, brown upper part, goes reddish near the head, and goes even darker around the main feathers. As for the lower part, it has a gray-white streak which extends till the tail. The female, on the other hand, is a little smaller in size. However, it has the same colors of the feathers. Moreover, it does not stand as straight as the male, and has smaller eyes than the male.

* An interesting fact about nightingales is that they can produce two notes while singing. They are categorized as “whistle songs” and “non-whistle songs”.

* This bird builds quite a strange nest. It usually builds its nest near to the ground using leaves and fibrous roots. The nest is arranged neatly with these dead leaves and fibrous roots, and made up into a cup-shaped and deep nest. However, the whole arrangement is very loose and easily disturbed by even a slight touch of hand.

* Species of nightingales are capable of moving at a distance of as long as 2500 to 5000 km during the period of breeding and wintering. Moreover, during their migration, some may stop along the north coast of Africa during their way to north, but most of them may take a non-stop route across the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara desert during their way to south.

* The sound of a nightingale turns louder in urban areas. They happen to sing louder than usual as they adapt to different loud sounds of the city. Moreover, they might sing both during the day and during the night. However, during the day, their sound might not be heard very clearly because of other noises and other birds’ chirping.