Nightingales may become increasingly rare as climate change alters their wingspan, study finds

The endangered birds, famous for their whistling crescendos, may struggle to fly from Africa to Europe to breed in the spring

ByPhoebe Southworth31 March 2020 • 5:54pm

Nightingales singing in Berkeley Square could become an increasingly rare sight, as climate change is reducing their wingspan and disrupting their migration patterns, a study has found.

The endangered birds, famous for their whistling crescendos, may struggle to fly from Africa to Europe to breed in the spring because warmer temperatures are making their wings smaller, the research by Spanish zoologists concluded.

A reduced wingspan means the nightingales will need to flap more to stay above ground, tiring them out faster and making their migration route more arduous.

This could potentially lead to fewer attempting the journey or an increased number dying on the way, the study suggests.

The species is already under threat, with their population in the UK falling by 90 per cent in the last 50 years.

Their rare beauty inspired one of John Keats' most famous poems, Ode to a Nightingale, as well as the romantic wartime song A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

The researchers analysed 20 years worth of data in the study, comparing wing length relative to body size with survival in two populations of nightingales from central Spain.

Continued

Celebrating nightingales

24/03/2018

The incredible song of Common Nightingale on a spring evening is a real treat. Once you know where to find them and get the timing just right, you'll be rewarded with a performance few other songbirds can match. This superstar of the British summer has an illustrious repertoire that includes at least 250 different phrases: a rich, fluid and melodic warble interspersed with croaking, grunting and high pitched singular notes.

This elaborate act has secured nightingale's place in our culture, with books, music, poetry and theatre all paying tribute to what might otherwise be seen as just a 'little brown job'. Curiously many stories about nightingale refer to the superb songster as female. Indeed it was once thought by naturalists and writers that it was the hen, rather than the male, serenading her mate from deep within the hedgerows.

This lyrical phrasing is now becoming harder to hear as the species' population is crashing: 90 per cent of the UK's nightingales have vanished in the past 50 years, and their range has contracted, confining them to the south and east.

Read on 

Fears Theale 'floating homes' plan could hit rare nightingales

05:00, 6 JUN 2016

BY HUGH FORT

Berkshire Ornithological Club members have raised severe concerns over the 225 home plan's affect on the bird population

Bird lovers have raised fears a plan for new “floating homes” in Theale could harm one of the last places rare nightingales can be heard singing in England.

Around 50 pairs of the birds live in the area where developers Berfeld Limited want to build 225 homes and members of the Berkshire Ornithological Club fear the development could have a serious impact on the birds.

However, the developer insists the presence of the birds has been “thoroughly considered” in the plans.

The campaigners say the birds are on the “red list” of the UK’s most threatened wildlife. They say the birds rely on nesting, feeding and singing undisturbed - in areas away from humans.

They fear if the development goes ahead it will lead to an influx of humans, dogs and cats, which could have a devastating effect.

Despite being endangered, scientists say the numbers of the birds on the site has held steady for a number of years. This shows the birds are breeding and bucks a national decline in numbers.

Dr Renton Righelato, chair of the Berkshire Ornithological Club’s conservation group, says: “If we are serious in the UK about protecting a threatened species, then this development cannot go ahead.

"Build here, or indeed anywhere around these lakes, and the nightingales will be lost.

Continued … 

Nightingales show off their fathering skills through song

Song of male nightingale tells females how good a father he will be, according to research

Date:  June 18, 2015

Source:  BioMed Central

Summary:  The song of the male nightingale tells females how good a father he will be, according to research. The study shows that better singers will feed their offspring more often, and that they advertise this to potential mates by singing in a more orderly way through repeating song sequences, and using more variable song, including many different 'buzz,' 'whistle' and 'trill' songs.

In around 80% of all bird species, males play a key role in raising their young. Male nightingales feed the female during incubation, provide food to chicks and defend the nest against predators. A male's parental skills are therefore likely to be a crucial factor for females when choosing a mate.

Female birds assess paternal qualities on the basis of traits, including plumage coloration and courtship behaviour. In nightingales, it is a male's elaborate nocturnal song prior to pair formation that is presumed to be key in advertising their skills as a father. While male birds are able to sing around 180 different song types, little has been understood on the exact song features that are important.

Continued ...

Communicating Nightingales: Older Males Trill Better

Aug. 12, 2013 — Older male nightingales perform faster and more demanding trills than their younger rivals. These findings were published by researchers at the University of Basel and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in the online edition of Journal of Avian Biology. With up to 100 trill elements a second, nightingales belong to the fastest singers.

Nightingales are famous for their large song repertoire: Each male can perform around 200 different song types. Facing this great variety, how can a female listener assess correctly if the male counterpart is a suitable mating partner? It is unlikely that the size of the repertoire is used as a performance indicator, since it would take about one hour for a male nightingale to sing through its whole song list. Thus, it is more likely that the quality of certain elements or song types are attended to for quick assessment.

Around 20 percent of nightingale songs contain rapid broadband trills that are characterized by particularly large frequency bandwidths. Since the performance of these sounds is very demanding, the rate at which they can be repeated is limited: "Trying to sing rapidly increasing sounds in fast repetition is very hard for us humans as well," says PD Dr. Valentin Amrhein, Zoologist at the University of Basel and head of the research station Petite Camargue Alsacienne in which the data was collected. Singing rapid broadband trills comes at a certain price for the male nightingale. Thus, it is suggested that males in good physical condition trill better and that therefore, trilling is a good indicator for male "quality."

Continued

Nightingales' tags reveal habitat change on migratory routes

The decline of the nightingale in the UK could be due to changes in its habitat along its migratory route to Africa, a study has shown.

Last year Anglian Water and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) fitted 10 birds at Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire with tracking devices.

Seven birds have come back with data about their 3,000 mile (4,828 km) journey to Senegal and The Gambia.

The tracker information will be fully analysed by the autumn.

A BTO spokesman said nightingale numbers had dropped by more than half since 1995, with only 6,000 singing male nightingales remaining in the UK.

Initial findings from the geolocators show the birds, which weigh about the same as a £2 coin, make the six-week journey to Africa via northern France and Spain to Gibraltar.

They then fly along the African coast to avoid the long flight across the wide, dry Sahara Desert.

Continued

Robins, not nightingales, are the mystery nighttime songsters, says RSPB

11:04am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News

The RSPB’s wildlife enquiries team has had an influx of calls reporting singing nightingales. But the wildlife charity is assuring callers that the birds are likely to be robins, which sing at night even during winter.

Richard James, an RSPB wildlife advisor, said: “We’ve had lots of calls from people sharing what they had spotted during their Big Garden Birdwatch, but many also called rather excitedly to say they’d heard nightingales singing in the evenings. They were a little disappointed when we told them the birds were almost certainly robins, although they were still surprised to find out these birds sing at night.”

The main purpose of singing is to attract a mate and defend a territory. Robins are one of the few birds that hold a territory throughout the winter so continue to sing when the majority of other birds have stopped.

Continued:  http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/10191394.Robins__not_nightingales__are_the_mystery_nighttime_songsters__says_RSPB/