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The nightingale project – a citizen science project on the natural and cultural history of nightingales

Nightingales in Berlin

Berlin, in spring, becomes the capital city for nightingales. Thousands of nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) arrive in Berlin and in gardens, parks, along railway lines and even on busy street corners.  From Grunewald to Pankow, these songsters’ melodic whistling and gurgling song can be heard, elating the attentive Berlin listeners. Songs, poems, pictures and stories show the fascination and love that people have for the nightingales. But how much do scientists actually know about these little migrant birds?

Citizen Science

From 2018 until 2019, a group of scientists at the MfN was calling on the help of the Berlin public to become citizen scientists and record the nightingales’ songs with their smart phones using the Naturblick app (developed by the MfN). These snippets of song will then be downloaded onto the Nightingale website map (Berlin 2018, Germany wide 2019) for all to hear and analyse. The recordings and other information collected by the citizen scientists will be used to reveal understanding on the private lives of these little songsters.

No events are planned at the moment. The scientific analysis of all data is now in focus. The team of the nightingale project would like to thank all our community for their great support, the numerous song recordings, anecdotes and stories - and for sharing their enthusiasm for the King in the Night with us!

Project website

For more information, please visit forschungsfallnachtigall.de

Duration

01.01.2018 -  31.12.2019

Funding

Federal Ministry of Education and Research - BMBF