Micro-Season: “The Nightingale Sings”

We have entered the micro-season of “The Nightingale Sings”. This is the second micro-season of the mini-season First Spring.  All the micro-seasons within First Spring are:

• Spring Winds Thaw the Ice (Feb 04 – Feb 08)
• The Nightingale Sings (Feb 09 – Feb 13)
• Fish Rise From the Ice (Feb 14 – Feb 18)

These seasons were established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai and are specific to Japan. However, just because the calendar focuses on Japan doesn’t mean it isn’t applicable to others.  No matter where you live you can use these seasons as a starting point for your personal exploration of the world around you. 

To celebrate this season, we will learn about the common nightingale and the Japanese nightingales.  We will then read seasonal haiku by Kerouac, Issa, Basho, and Dr. Gabi Greve.

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The Nightingale

The common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is also called the rufous nightingale. Nightingales are small, relatively unassuming birds with brown-colored backs and wings, reddish tails, and a white underbelly.  The males and females of this species look similar. The common nightingale is usually about 6 inches long. ^(1,2)

The nightingale is a member of the Passerine order of birds. They used to be classified as a member of the thrush, or Turdidae family.  However, they are now considered to be a part of the Muscicapidae family. Birds in this family are also known as the Old World Flycatchers.⁽¹⁾

Because of DNA analysis, a small group of birds moved from the Turdidae family to the Muscicapidae family.⁽¹⁾  This group is also known as Chats or chat-thrushes.  Birds in this group are ground-feeding insectivores.  Other birds, besides the nightingale, that are part of the Chat are the Golden bush robin (Tarsiger chrysaeus) and the Angola cave chat (Xenocopsychus ansorgei).⁽³⁾

The nightingales are migratory birds that spend their summers in Europe and parts of Russia and travel south to Africa for the winter.  Nightingales are not naturally found in the Americas and are not common in Japan 

The Japanese Nightingale

There are two other species, that are not Luscinia megarhynchos, that are found in Japan and referred to as nightingales.

Japanese bush warbler (Horornis diphone) is about the same size as the common nightingale and is a member of the Cettiidae family.  The Japanese bush warbler is olive-brown with a paler underbelly.  This bird is a year-round resident of Japan and its breeding song signifies spring is on its way. Because of its spring song, the Japanese bush warbler was known as the Japanese nightingale. This is not common anymore.

The red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) is also called the  Japanese nightingale, Pekin nightingale, or the Pekin robin.  This bird is a member of the Leiothrichidae family and is native to southern China. The red-billed leiothrix is much more colorful than the common nightingales. Their backs are still olive green, but they have a bright yellow-orange throat with a yellow chin  The adults also have bright red bills and a dull yellow ring around their eyes. 

The Songs of the Nightingales

The common nightingale got its name because of the melodious songs it sings after dark.  Only the male nightingale sings and it is suspected that they sing at night to attract migrating females as they fly overhead.

The common nightingale is said to be “able to produce over 1000 different sounds, compared with just 340 by skylarks and about 100 by blackbirds. This is because the part of the brain responsible for creating sound is bigger in nightingales than in most other birds.”⁽⁶⁾

The following nightingale song was recorded in 1961 in  the Teign Valley, Devon, England

In comparison, here is the song of the Japanese bush warbler (Horornis diphone). This audio file also has a crow in the background.

Finally, to hear the song of the red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea), follow this link to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library for hundreds of recordings and photos.

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Seasonal Haiku

The World Kigo Database tells us that Uguisu or  Japanese Bush Warbler/Nightingale has the potential to be a kigo for any season. However, because the uguisu is known for its constant singing in the spring, it is often considered a spring kigo.  Other variations of the uguisu that are spring kigo are “first nightingale” (hatsu uguisu), “first call of the nightingale”, (uguisu no hatsune) and “nightingale flute” (uguisu bue).⁽⁶⁾

Besides the nightingale, there are many other birds associated with spring.  Dr. Gabi Greve explains, “We have some nice kigo about these early birds of spring, twittering happily in the bamboo groves and rushes. It could be any kinds of birds, including turtledove and cuckoo.”⁽⁷⁾

With this in mind, let’s read some haiku about bird songs. 

Jack Kerouac

Birds singing
   in the dark
-Rainy dawn.

Listening to birds
 using different voices, losing
My perspective of History

Bach through an open
  dawn window–
the birds are silent

Issa

birdsong in bamboo grass--
too shy
for the fence
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

even in the mountains
warblers and humans
cry out, u-gu-i-su!
(translated by Chris Drake)

singing practice
every morning
with the warbler
(translated by Chris Drake)

Gabi Greve

early morning -
the healing power
of birdsong

Basho

Your song caresses 
the depths of loneliness, 
high mountain bird 
(translated by Sam Hamill)

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Haiku Invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu that references spring bird song.  

Here is a quick one from this morning: 

chick-a-dee-dee-dee
from a snow covered branch–
not spring yet!

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your own page and link back to this post. I can’t wait to read what you write!  

Looking for more bird-inspired haiku? Check out this week’s Haiku Dialogue for the Haiku Foundation with guest editor guest Nancy Brady. The theme is Avian Adventures.

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Resources:

1. “Nightingale”; BirdFacts.com
2. “Common Nightingale”; Wikipedia
3. Chat (bird); Wikipedia
4. “Japanese Bush Warbler”; Wikipedia
5. “Red-billed leiothrix’; Wikipedia
6. “10 amazing facts about nightingales and the best places to see them”; BBC, Discover Wildlife
7. “Nightingale (uguisu); World Kigo Database
8. “Birds of Spring and START SAIJIKI”; World Kigo Database

Jack Kerouac’s haiku were retrieved from Jack Kerouac’s Book of Haikus.  Issa’s, and Dr, Gabi Greve’s haiku were retrieved from World Kigo Database  “Nightingale” and “Birds of Spring”.  Basho’s haiku was retrieved from Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations