Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) - BirdLife species factsheet

Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	19,300,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	10,200,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	37100000-55800000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2018
Population trend	stable	-	estimated	-
Generation length	2.73 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 20,400,000-30,700,000 mature individuals, with 10,200,000-15,400,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 55% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 37,100,000-55,800,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. The species' population in Europe is considered to have remained relatively stable over three generations (10 years) (BirdLife International 2021). As this region holds the majority of the species' global range, the global population size is considered to be stable over three generations. This species is considered to have a medium dependency on forest habitat, which is estimated to be declining at a slow rate within its mapped range (Global Forest Watch 2024).

Trend justification: .

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native		yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native
Andorra	extant	native		yes
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native		yes
Bahrain	extant	native				yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Benin	extant	native			yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native		yes		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Cape Verde	extant	vagrant
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native		yes
Cyprus	extant	native		yes
Czechia	extant	native		yes
Denmark	extant	native				yes
Djibouti	extant	vagrant
Egypt	extant	native
Estonia	extant	vagrant
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Finland	extant	vagrant
France	extant	native		yes
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Greece	extant	native		yes		yes
Guinea	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native		yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	vagrant
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native		yes
Iraq	extant	native		yes		yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	native		yes		yes
Jordan	extant	native		yes		yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native				yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native		yes		yes
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	vagrant
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native		yes
Niger	extant	vagrant
Nigeria	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	vagrant
Oman	extant	native				yes
Palestine	extant	native		yes		yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native		yes
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Romania	extant	native		yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native				yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Sudan	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native
Sweden	extant	vagrant
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native		yes		yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Togo	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native				yes
United Kingdom	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Western Sahara	extant	native
Yemen	extant	native				yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Germany	Lower Elbe valley
Germany	Lower Oder valley
Germany	Schorfheide-Chorin
Germany	Spreewald
Germany	Uckermark lake region
Russia (European)	Mouth of Samur river
Serbia	Fruska gora
Serbia	Pusta reka
Serbia	Stara mountains
Serbia	Toplica

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Plantations	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	breeding
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Temperate	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 2720 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-nightingale-luscinia-megarhynchos on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.