swifts

Went down to Chapman Elementary School in NW Portland the other night to see the swifts. Vaux Swifts, in the tens of thousands, roost in the school’s chimney in September before heading off to warmer climes. A crowd gathers each evening, kids, dogs and all, to watch the swifts funnel into the chimney over the course of an hour or so. Great sweeping, bending masses of birds swoop and circle and eventually flutter down in a cascade. The occasional Peregrine Falcon adds a bit of drama as it dives through the small birds looking to snag dinner.

A note nearby describes how the kids used to willingly suffer the fall chill until the birds left, waiting before the furnace would be turned on. Now with a new gas unit in the school the chimney is kept solely for the roosting birds.