Thrush nightingale

Thrush nightingale
At Uglich, Russia
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Luscinia
Species:	L. luscinia
Binomial name
Luscinia luscinia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Distribution of the Luscinia luscinia. Orange: breeding (summer) range, yellow: non-breeding (winter) range.
Synonyms
Motacilla luscinia Linnaeus, 1758

The thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), also known as the sprosser, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae.^[2] It, and similar small European species, are often called chats.

It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in forests in Europe and the Palearctic and overwintering in Africa. The distribution is more northerly than the very closely related common nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos, which it closely resembles in appearance. It nests near the ground in dense undergrowth.

The thrush nightingale is similar in size to the European robin. It is plain greyish-brown above and white and greyish-brown below. Its greyer tones, giving a cloudy appearance to the underside, and lack of the common nightingale's obvious rufous tail side patches are the clearest plumage differences from that species. Sexes are similar. It has a similar but more powerful song than that of the nightingale.