Common Nightingale

The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. An Old World flycatcher, it belongs to a group of more terrestrial species, often called chats. Its range partly overlaps with that of the more northerly thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), a closely related species with which hybrids have occurred. == Taxonomy == The common nightingale belongs to a distinctive group of Old World flycatchers, known as chats, that were formerly thought to be thrushes. Genetic analysis showed that they were in fact a type of flycatcher (Muscicapidae), with the resemblance to thrushes being the result of convergent evolution. "Nightingale" is derived from "night" and the Old English galan, "to sing". The genus name Luscinia is Latin for "nightingale" and megarhynchos is from Ancient Greek megas, "great" and rhunkhos, "bill". Three subspecies are recognized: Western nightingale (L. m. megarhynchos) – western Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, wintering in tropical Africa Caucasian nightingale (L. m. africana) – the Caucasus and eastern Turkey to southwestern Iran and Iraq, wintering in East Africa Eastern nightingale (L. m. golzii) – the Aral Sea to Mongolia, wintering in coastal East…