Expert: Julia Booth - 9/4/2009

Question
We have been seeing swifts enter our chimney each night at dusk.  We believe they are vaux swifts.  There are perhaps 300 that swirl around our home, then enter our abandoned chimney - sometimes quite fast.

Are they migrating?  We understand swifts do this at Chapman Elementary in Portland Oregon.  Will they be here only for a short time?  Are we a stopover?  Do they visit the same places each year?  Our daughter told us earlier this year that she heard bird sounds coming from the chimney this spring.

And finally, if they are itinerant, will they all leave en masse, or a few at a time?

Answer
Portland is a major migration point for Swifts. Here is a good link.

http://www.audubonportland.org/backyardwildlife/brochures/vauxsswift

They are local and therefore would be the ones to ask about migration trends. Because they can vary from one year to the next. They probably have PDF docs of the yearly birdcounts.

Let me know if you need more information,

Julia