My compulsion to count Chimney Swifts began on August 7 and lasted until October 11 after I had not seen any swifts for two consecutive nights. I counted the avian migrants for 56 nights as they sought evening shelter in chimneys in or near Delaware County during their autumn journey to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the northwest corner of Brazil.
Most evenings I counted alone. But for 20 times I was joined by inquisitive onlookers, totaling 43 people of all ages, who wondered what I was doing while seated in a director’s chair staring into the darkening sky. As I have done since my first counting year in 2003, I applied my state and federal permits to legally check out two swift study skins and a set of wings attached to a swift tail from the Ohio Wesleyan Zoology Museum. I placed each specimen onto a bed of tissues in its own clear plastic sandwich container. I also kept a small colored map in a plastic sandwich bag that I had downloaded from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. The map shows both hemispheres where our swifts seek seasonal homes, and I had listed other natural history facts on an index card so I could quickly extract answers to questions when needed. Whenever inquisitive onlookers approached me, I would show them the specimens and point to the chimney where the birds were about to put on a good show. This year, the scheduled “shows” were not as spectacular as past years when hundreds more birds were much more common during their nightly visits to our community chimneys.
I watch only very public chimneys and never watch chimneys on private homes. The sky is usually clear of swifts before flocks suddenly appear as they scout for good roosting sites. This year, I never counted more than 50 swifts in a flock, and that is a historically low number.
Swifts nest one pair per chimney while allowing as many as thirty non-breeders to roost above their nest in the same chimney. Some non-breeders are allowed to help feed nestlings. Heavy rains are one of the greatest threats to nests since swifts nest on vertical walls inside chimneys where water flows downward to cause nest failures. Think of the heavy rains experienced in June and you get an idea for why swift numbers were down this year.
I started out in August being most encouraged by the strong activity at the Zion United Church of Christ in Delaware where the count peaked on August 20 with 327 swifts entering the church’s chimney. Then the count started to spiral downward and never really became strong for any chimneys in Delaware for the remaining migration.
My best guess is that so many nests failed that most adult swifts were migrating without fledglings to slow them down. The first week of October provided the season’s final surge of birds and I was surprised to see flocks enter the chimney at the Delaware County Bank where very few swifts sought shelter last year. Before next year’s fall swift migration, I will provide hints on how to plan your own unending compulsion to spend your evenings counting or simply watching swifts. Meanwhile, check out the Chimney Swift Conservation Association Web site for more information.
Here’s more detailed information for my counts this year:
Chimney Swift counts for 2015, N=56. Times are for first and last swifts entering their chimneys.
Galena Village Hall, formally the Galena United Methodist Church, 109 Harrison Street, 43021, Galena, n=2.
August 7 594 swifts 20:37-21:12
August 14 13 swifts 20:41-20:57
Carlisle Elementary School, 746 West Central Ave. n=1
Zero
Edwards Gym, OWU, north chimney on east face, n=9
August 9 16 swifts 20:26-20:55
August 28 10 swifts 20:11-20:22
September 3 45 swifts 20:05-20:19
September 5 31 swifts 20:02-20:18
September 7 135 swifts 19:57-20:15
September 8 55 swifts 19:56-20:09
September 9 4 swifts 19:51-19:59
September 13 Zero
September 17 Zero
Gray Chapel, OWU, west chimney on north face, n=12
August 10 one swift 20:54
August 29 12 swifts 20:08-20:17
September 6 14 swifts 19:53-20:10
September 14 10 swifts 19:47-20:00
September 18 8 swifts 19:35-19:48
September 20 7 swifts 19:46-19:51
September 24 6 swifts 19:36-19:46
September 30 7 swifts 19:23-19:28
October 7 4 swifts 19:13-19:15
October 8 9 swifts 19:08-19:18
October 9 one swift 19:06 (Two additional swifts were sighted.)
October 10 Zero
Delaware County Bank, 41 North Sandusky St., n=7
August 11 Zero
October 1 134 swifts <19:18-19:23
October 3 30 swifts 18:39-18:44
October 4 260 swifts 19:17-19:34
October 5 56 swifts 19:24-19:28
October 6 23 swifts 19:18-19:24
October 11 Zero
Zion United Church of Christ, 51 West Central Ave., n=20
August 12 182 swifts 20:33-20:56
August 13 186 swifts 20:36-20:50
August 15 141 swifts 20:40-20:52
August 16 179 swifts 20:23-20:50
August 17 236 swifts 20:07-20:35
August 18 205 swifts 20:29-20:49
August 19 269 swifts 20:14-20:42
August 20 327 swifts 20:27-20:48
August 21 153 swifts 20:31-20:47
August 22 259 swifts 20:23-20:44
August 23 65 swifts 20:21-20:43
August 24 18 swifts 20:32-20:40
August 25 3 swifts 20:13-20:33
August 26 Zero
August 27 7 swifts 20:32-20:38
August 30 Zero
September 4 2 swifts 20:08
September 19 4 swifts 19:50-19:57
September 26 Zero
September 29 2 swifts 19:22-19:34
Delaware County Law Library, 20 West Central Ave., n=1
August 31 2 swifts 20:23-20:24
First block of West Winter St. downtown Delaware, n=2
September 1 Zero
September 16 Zero
Behind buildings in 100-block of North Sandusky St., n=1
September 2 Zero
Blendon Lodge of Free Masonry, 130 South State St., Westerville, Ohio, a program sponsored by the Columbus Audubon Society, n=1
September 11 127 swifts 19:57-20:05
Annual Dates for latest swift counts or sightings over Delaware, Ohio.
2003: October 12
2004: October 9
2005: October 6
2006: October 18
2007: October 10
2008: October 16
2009: October 13
2010: October 11
2011: October 14
2012: October 9
2013: October 10
2014: October 15
2015: October 9