The 2017 fall swift counts took place on 61 evenings among seven chimneys, and all but one roost stand inside Delaware City. My first count took place on August 8 and the last with swifts took place on October 11. I missed counting on October 12 since I was attending a meeting and a delicious supper catered by students at the Tolles Career Center near Plain City in Madison County. October 12 has been the average last day for swifts during the previous 14 counts that I started in 2003.
I record flyby chimney inspections as “dips,” flocks of swifts appearing all at once as “bursts,” and heights of soaring swifts as x, 2x, 3x, etc., as estimates on how many chimney lengths the birds are flying above the ground.
Other animals always add moments of entertainment. For example, an Eastern Cottontail Rabbit at Carlisle Elementary School was an added feature on six nights between August 31 and September 14. The vulnerable animal would emerge from the evergreen shrubs and other decorative plants near the main entrance of the school. The school’s mowed terrain offered no protection from coyotes, red foxes, and large owls that are known to hunt Delaware’s neighborhoods. By the time the last swift had entered the chimney, the rabbit was out in the open and lit up with security lights. Good luck to Hoppy.
A pair of Cooper Hawks put on a show at the Zion United Church of Christ on August 28 as 124 swifts entered the chimney during a 46 minute period. The first hawk landed on the chimney’s rim at 20:16 after 80 swifts had already dropped in for the night. A leafy tree limb on the south side of the chimney partially blocked the view for some swifts as they glided around the obstruction before letting gravity pull them into the chimney. The first hawk lunged from the chimney several times to grab swifts, but failed. A second hawk swooped in past the first hawk at 20:19 but missed its target. Three minutes passed as twenty more swifts entered the chimney before the second hawk returned to successfully grab its supper in midair above the chimney. All the while, the first hawk continued to perch on the chimney’s rim as swifts entered their roost. The last four swifts entered their safe home for the night at 20:31, and when I left at 20:36, the first hawk was still perched on the chimney and I had no way to tell it that its hunting was over for the night.
I look forward to human encounters that take place mostly when I observe while sitting outside my car. Counting in downtown Delaware usually attracts the most attention from folks walking by. I show inquisitive visitors three swift study skins from the Ohio Wesleyan Zoology Museum that are safely housed in padded sandwich containers. I also show a map downloaded from the Cornell lab of Ornithology that shows summer and winter swift homes. If time and dropping swifts allow, I give a fast interpretive talk describing the life of swifts. This year, a total of 26 people of all ages stopped 11 times to ask questions to learn things about the bug bombs that seek shelter in our community’s chimneys during nestings and migrations.
Life always has its share of bad news. To stay as positive as possible, I’ll only report that one more classic chimney in Delaware has been capped. The chimney at the old Delaware County Jail, now a law library, in downtown Delaware, has been capped. During conversations with three people since the capping, the subject was brought up by others since they have enjoyed seeing swifts entering the chimney as they walked by the building during past years. Part of their neighborhood’s personality has been “capped away.” Poop-phobia probably became a factor leading to the chimney’s demise.
There are always two peaks in a season’s counts. September 7 was the high count with 1378 swifts roosting at Carlisle Elementary School. The count quickly declined after that high count until zero birds used the chimney a week later. Nothing had changed with the chimney and I suspect that birds might have died during the high count, and since swifts, unlike most other birds, can smell, perhaps the smell of death deterred further roosting. (Due to observations that I have recorded describing my nesting Tree Swallows, I believe there has been a drastic drop in insect populations that would increase the frequency of deaths during migrations of insect-eaters.)
Typically, a second, but much smaller peak occurs toward the end of fall migration. The later peak might represent young swifts migrating for the first time. That peak occurred on October 9 at OWU’s Edwards Gym. Well, I am glad to admit that I have a compulsion to count migrating Chimney Swifts, and whether I see good or bad, recording observations is good for my spirit. So, thank you, Chaetura pelagica, for the opportunity.
2017 Fall Chimney Swift Counts, N=61
Carlisle Elementary School, 746 West Central Ave., n=27
| August 8 | 31 swifts | 20:45 – 20:59 |
| August 11 | 104 swifts | 20:01 – 20:48 |
| August 15 | 377 swifts | 20:27 – 20:59 |
| August 16 | 740 swifts | 20:12 – 20:58 |
| August 17 | 396 swifts | 20:14 – 20:49 |
| August 20 | 587 swifts | 20:22 – 20:48 |
| August 21 | 645 swifts | 20:10 – 20:43 |
| August 24 | 670 swifts | 20:00 – 20:35 |
| August 25 | 651 swifts | 20:11 – 20:39 |
| August 27 | 1037 swifts | 20:10 – 20:36 |
| August 29 | 1134 swifts | 19:57 – 20:26 |
| August 30 | 854 swifts | 20:16 – 20:34 |
| August 31 | 830 swifts | 20:06 – 20:31 |
| September 1 | 1156 swifts | 19:39 – 20:16 |
| September 2 | 1029 swifts | 19:16 – 20:15 |
| September 3 | 802 swifts | 20:06 – 20:27 |
| September 5 | 1010 swifts | 19:46 – 20:23 |
| September 6 | 1026 swifts | 19:44 – 20:14 |
| September 7 | 1378 swifts | 19:46 – 20:16 |
| September 8 | 1305 swifts | 19:44 – 20:14 |
| September 9 | 980 swifts | 19:38 – 20:14 |
| September 10 | no count: 73rd birthday in Chicago | |
| September 11 | 12 swifts | 19:50 – 20:05 |
| September 12 | 3 swifts | 20:00 – 20:03 |
| September 14 | Zero swifts | Watched 19:16 – 20:16 |
| September 18 | Zero Swifts | Watched 19:12 – 20:01 |
| September 21 | Zero Swifts | Watched 19:08 – 19:53 |
| September 28 | Zero Swifts | Watched 18:50 – 19:44 |
Edwards Gym, Ohio Wesleyan University, north chimney on east face, n=19
| August 9 | 5 swifts | 20:54 – 20:57 |
| September 19 | 73 swifts | 19:39 – 19:54 |
| September 22 | 137 swifts | 19:31 – 19:49 |
| September 22 | 235 swifts | 19:34 – 19:54 |
| September 24 | 81 swifts | 19:31 – 19:51 |
| September 27 | 36 swifts | 19:31 – 19:41 |
| September 29 | 131 swifts | 19:27 – 19:40 |
| October 2 | 25 swifts | 19:26 – 19:36 |
| October 3 | 13 swifts | 19:24 – 19:32 |
| October 4 | 3 swifts | 19:23 – 19:31 |
| October 5 | 12 swifts | 19:20 – 19:26 |
| October 6 | 17 swifts | 19:14 – 19:19 |
| October 7 | 22 swifts | 19:10 – 19:18 |
| October 8 | 46 swifts | 18:42 – 19:15 |
| October 9 | 102 swifts | 19:15 – 19:18 |
| October 10 | 86 swifts | 18:59 – 19:14 |
| October 11 | 66 swifts | 19:00 – 19:14 |
| October 12 | no count: Meeting at Tolles Career Center, Plain City | |
| October 13 | Zero swifts | Watched 18:29 – 19:20 |
| October 14 | no count: Ohio Avian Research and Conservation Conference, Denison University, Granville | |
| October 15 | Zero swifts | Watched 18:30 – 19:12 |
Sells Middle School, Dublin, n=1
| August 12 | I arrived late. Others counted more than 900 swifts. |
Gray Chapel, OWU, west chimney on north face. n=4
| August 13 | 315 swifts | 20:35 – 20:56 |
| August 18 | 74 swifts | 20:23 – 20:50 |
| August 23 | 6 swifts | 19:58 – 20:34 |
| September 17 | 2 swifts | 19:51 – 19:55 |
Zion United Church of Christ, 51 West Central Ave., n=3
| August 14 | 17 swifts | 20:33 – 20:48 |
| August 28 | 124 swifts | 19:45 – 20:31 |
| September 15 | 4 swifts | 19:43 – 20:01 |
First Commonwealth Bank, 41 North Sandusky Street, n=6
| August 19 | 177 swifts | 20:20 – 20:50 |
| August 22 | 169 swifts | 20:23 – 20:40 |
| August 26 | 7 swifts | 20:28 – 20:37 |
| September 4 | 3 swifts | 19:54 – 20:10 |
| September 16 | 10 swifts | 19:56 – 20:00 |
| September 30 | zero swifts | Watched 18:33 – 19:43 |
OWU Student Observatory, West William Street, n=1
| September 20 | Zero Swifts | Watched 19:10 – 19:53 |