Nightingale

Last night I was crossing a park on my way home when I heard a bird singing so loudly that I could hear it through the music going on in my mp3 player. It was a kind of staccato birdsong with lots of high-pitched trills and it was simply mesmerizing. Besides the beautiful and clear melody it was the element of surprise that made me stop: you just wouldn't expect a bird to sing like that at 1:30 am. I listened to it for a while and when I left there the bird was still performing and the sounds of the song were reverberating from the nearby houses.
This afternoon, I have had some time to do a bit of research on the net and the mysterious night singer seems to have been a nightingale. It is a migratory species breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south-west Asia. Nightingales are named so because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. The song is impressive with a lot of whistles and trills and it is even louder near urban areas because the bird wants to overcome the background noises. (from wikipedia)
Nightingales are not very rare and they mainly sing in spring, so if you happen to walk in forests or parks these days at the nighttime, you are likely to hear them. It is a memorable experience.
This bird is the focus of many works of art: songs, poems, myths and short stories. Listen to this soulful jazzy tune by Norah Jones, titled "Nightingale":






Read the lyrics of the song.

Do some vocabulary exercises about the language content of this post.