Birds and Nature

I heard a couple of Chimney Swifts making their chittering sounds and as I watched more appeared. I walked around the Goodwill Store building to get a better view.   I was delighted to see that this flock totaled 25-30 swifts. Since about the most breeding Chimney Swifts I have seen in Canon City is 8, this is a migrating flock that are stopping over to feed and roost. The pic below shows 16 or 17 of the swifts as they circled close to the Goodwill chimney in preparation for entering the roost. The pic just above shows one of the swifts as it briefly hovered, using it's tail feathers opened widely, before diving quickly into thhttps://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=57749986988450056&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=6517924101953644242;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postnamee chimney. The short video clip below shows this flock of swifts as they move in and dive into the chimney to roost for the night. SeEtta Chimney Swifts Enter...

Chimney Swifts returning to roost from SeEtta Moss on Vimeo . After finding out about this chimney in Harlingen, TX that hosts several hundred Chimney Swifts I had to go see it. I was not disappointed as I enjoyed watching hundreds of these birds converge near this large chimney, circling and chittering until they dive into the chimney to roost for the night. As they wait until almost dark to go to their roost it is best to watch this in full screen mode (click on 'vimeo' to enlarge). SeEtta

I spent some time tonight watching Chimney Swifts in Lamar, CO where I observed at least 8 birds as they foraged. It is clear from the top pic why these are called 'flying cigars' of a cigar with wings. I was happy I was able to find a chimney where two swifts flew into at dark, presumably a pair that is nesting there. SeEtta