Some specimens of Japanese nightingales were seen and photographed on the morning of Sunday, February 8, 2026, in the Berici Hills in the province of Vicenza.
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The Japanese nightingale (Leiothrix lutea) is a small passerine bird belonging to the Leiothrichidae family.
It is highly prized primarily for its aesthetic characteristics: a coral-red beak, colorful plumage, green on the back, a yellow throat fading to orange on the chest, and wings with red and yellow hues; secondly for its melodious song, from which the term “nightingale” derives.
It is a bird native to the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, a range that extends to Pakistan, Nepal, India, Myanmar, China, and Vietnam; in Japan, as in Italy, it is considered an alien species.
The first specimens found outside its native range were likely captive-bred birds that were later released into the wild.
Having found a favorable breeding habitat, the species has over time become naturalized in its new locations.
The Japanese nightingale can live about four years in the wild, while in captivity it can exceed ten years.
Depending on the season, it feeds on insects, berries, fresh fruit and seeds.
It is a bird that moves, usually in groups, through dense vegetation, a characteristic that makes it difficult to spot.
Author’s Note
Photo by Maurizio Romio ©. To take the photographs I used an OM SYSTEM OM-1 MARK II as the camera body and the OM System M.Zuiko ED 150 – 600mm f/5.0-6.3 IS Sync telephoto lens as the lens.