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.

The head, nape and the whole of the upper parts of the thrush nightingale are dark brown with a slight olive tinge.

The lores and ear-coverts are brownish-black and the chin and throat are pale buff or whitish, mottled with brown, and are paler in colour than the nightingale.

[6] The male's songⓘ is loud, with a range of whistles, trills and clicks and includes a flute-like "pioo" with a pure bell-like tone.

The northern limit of its summer range extends to Denmark, southern Finland, Norway and Sweden, the Baltic States, the Republic of Karelia, Kostroma, Vologda, Perm, Kazakhstan, Turkestan and Altai.

[7] In its breeding range, the thrush nightingale is found in damp deciduous woodland typically with alder and birch.

It favours thick undergrowth with brambles, dense shrubs and tangled vegetation in swampy places and near water.

In its winter quarters it is found in dense patches of thorn bush, especially in valley bottoms near water courses, and sometimes in thick vegetation at the edge of woodland.

[8] The thrush nightingale feeds chiefly on the ground taking earthworms, spiders and the adults, larvae and pupae of insects such as beetles, small moths, ants and flies.

A simulation of the magnetic field found in northern Egypt encouraged birds preparing to migrate from Sweden to further build up their body fat.

[9] The thrush nightingale breeds in damp forests, nesting on the ground, often in the middle of a bed of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica).