t a b o r c A g n i az m A s e i k S e h of t
THE CHIMNEY SWIFT:
Catherine Greenleaf - Lyme, NH
I
t’s time for a confession. My husband and I are ardent fans of the Chimney Swift. We always look forward to the cooler weather that comes with fall because it’s the time of year we get to watch the southward migration of this mysterious and fascinating bird. By the end of summer, breeding season has ended and the Chimney Swifts are readying themselves for their long and grueling f light back to the headwaters of the Amazon in Brazil. This is when my husband and I join local birding groups and travel to various locations throughout New England to witness in awe what can only be described as an incredible spectacle. Against the orange and pink hues of the setting sun at dusk f ly thousands of Chimney Swifts, swirling together in the air like a black tornado. Then, in a magical feat of synchronization, they funnel straight down, single-file into smokestacks, water towers, or abandoned air shafts to roost for the night.
the tops of trees and breaks them in half with its feet – while airborne. This species can swoop down to a pond and scoop water into its beak to drink. It lowers its body into water mid-flight to take a bath and spends the entire day snapping thousands of insects out of the sky with its wide mouth. Chimney Swifts are ravenous insectivores. A family of five Chimney Swifts can eat up to 12,000 insects a day, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This bird’s anatomy is quite different from most songbirds. It does not have the leg structure required to perch upright on branches and instead uses its hooked toes to cling to vertical surfaces like the brick and mortar of chimneys. Chimney Swifts build their nests inside chimneys. For centuries, this species nested in the hollows of dead trees. But due to wide-scale deforestation, most large, dead trees have disappeared, forcing the birds to adapt by using chimneys.
LIFE CYCLE OF THE CHIMNEY SWIFT But let’s go back to where the breeding season begins. By the first of May, Chimney Swifts have migrated thousands of miles from South America and you can hear their happy chatter in the air overhead as they arrive in New England. These birds are often mistaken for bats because they are small (5-6 inches long), black to dark greyish brown in color, and sport a short and square tail. The Chimney Swift is social and gregarious and prefers to hunt for insects in small packs of up to 12 birds. A skilled aerial acrobat, the Chimney Swift does everything from the air. When building its nest, the Chimney Swift grabs small twigs off 24 4 Legs & a Tail
Fall 2021
