The 2019 fall swift counts took place during 57 evenings at five chimneys, all within the city of Delaware, Ohio. Compared to the previous sixteen years of counting, I started a week or two later due to positive distractions and responsibilities.
I started counting on August 16 at the Carlisle Elementary School on the westside. I sat in my car to record 563 swifts entering the chimney for the night. Sunset for August 16 was listed as 20:28 (8:28 P.M.) by the Astronomical Applications Department at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington D.C., a chart that lists every day of the year. The same information is usually listed a day at a time on the weather page in local newspapers. I try to arrive one-half hour before sunset and the migrating swifts will enter their night roost within one-half hour after sunset.
I favored the school’s chimney for counting, and after my first count, I alternated counts with other public chimneys until I had visited all that had sheltered swifts in past years. Of course, for modern reasons, I never count swifts at private homes.
I counted only five swifts on August 17 at the Zion United Church of Christ. August 27 became even more disappointing when only three swifts entered the church’s chimney, then when no swifts used the chimney on September 12 and 22, I was forced to come up with a good explanation. During my visits in September, no swifts even inspected the chimney by “dipping” to look and smell the chimney’s entrance, but I did see swifts flying directly south toward downtown Delaware. So, perhaps the swifts were headed to a known roost that they had used during previous years.
Of the three other chimneys that I watched no more than four times each, there were no surprises or counts out of the ordinary when compared to previous years. The First Commonwealth Bank chimney in downtown Delaware sheltered hundreds of migrants early in my visits, but only sheltered three swifts on September 3.
Two chimneys on the Ohio Wesleyan campus were only slightly active. During four counts, the Edwards Gym chimney sheltered 4 – 37 swifts which was not surprising, but Gray Chapel’s chimney usually holds hundreds of swifts in the early part of the migration, but it only sheltered 7 – 15 swifts during the three counts between August 25 and my 75th birthday on September 10. Usually when I count swifts at the Gym’s chimney, I can see hundreds of swifts circling the chapel’s chimney to the north. Not so this year, just fewer birds.
Back to Carlisle Elementary, a very active event between two bird species and a dragonfly caused me to laugh out loud. First, one of the birds was a nighthawk. I have always recorded nighthawk sightings when I watched for swifts. In Milton and Mary Trautman’s Annotated List of the Birds of Ohio, 1968, the Common Nighthawk’s fall migration occurs from August 10 to October 1.
Nighthawks belong to the Family Caprimulgidae, the same family as Whip-poor-wills, and they were known as “goatsuckers” in earlier times. I counted nighthawks on five nights while I was watching for swifts. I recorded one nighthawk on September 7, two on the 8th, three on the 10th, and eight on the 11th. Then, two weeks passed with no nighthawks spotted until thirteen passed on September 30 that included the laughable event. At 7:06 P.M., I spotted three nighthawks flying east high over the elementary school just as I had also spotted two large dragonflies flying through trees in front of the school. The swifts were starting to enter the chimney, then a nighthawk zipped past my windshield as it pursued one of the dragonflies. The swifts immediately broke out of their circle of flight above the chimney and the chase was on. With a strong reflex, I broke into loud laughter as I enjoyed the organized mayhem of the chase. Once the lone intruder was out of the area, the swifts circled back to continue their circling above the chimney.
The school’s chimney stayed active through October 12, but October 13 became the last day of swift migration once I recorded five swifts that flew past the school’s chimney on their way toward a more preferred chimney somewhere to the east. As I usually do, I went about recording two nights of zero swifts before declaring October 13 as the latest date of swift migration for 2019. October 13 is one day later than the average latest date during seventeen years of counting in Delaware. My last zero count took place in downtown Delaware on October 15 as I sat in my canvas chair across from Bun’s Restaurant on West Winter Street.
During my 57 daily counts, I recorded nineteen cases of loud vehicles as “LV” in my data book. Most were automobiles or pickup trucks, and a few were motorcycles. Were the drivers entertained by the sound of accelerating engines? Of course, the noise-makers were oblivious to the swifts, and in most cases, their noise peaked beyond my location, many times a block or more away.
I do know that swifts will temporarily leave a site due to sirens blaring past, and occasionally a loud vehicle will also interrupt their circling. The good news is, the determined birds always returned to their chosen chimney after their irritation had passed.
As I do every year, I welcome conversations with curious passers-by except when the swifts are dropping in at their peak rate. I come prepared for human interactions with three plastic sandwich containers that contain swift remains that have been salvaged after window collisions and other accidents, and preserved by student curators at Ohio Wesleyan University. I have state and federal permits that allow me to check study skins out of the university’s museum for programs to promote conservation and awareness. I place one study skin on its back in its container; another is placed on its belly in a second container, and a set of wings and tail are in the third container.
The specimen on its back reveals its small feet and legs that allow a swift to hang vertically inside chimneys and hollow trees. Swifts cannot perch horizontally like other birds and if they fail to find a safe chimney they have to perch on the bark of a tree that makes them a potential food item for owls and other predators.
During the 2019 fall swift counts, I recorded 16 programs that involved 42 curious people that included three children. The birds, even though they are dead, are good ambassadors for the live members of their species. Another prop for my interpretive conversations is a small map downloaded from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology showing the colored breeding range for swifts in North America, and zones in Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil where the insect eaters will spend our winter. Hopefully, they will return next spring between April 10 and May 25 according to Milton and Mary Trautman’s records.
2019 Fall Chimney Swift Counts, N=57
Carlisle Elementary School, 746 West Central Ave., n=40.
August 16 563 swifts 20:06 – 20:53
August 17 544 swifts 20:27 – 20:54
August 18 566 swifts 19:58 – 20:46
August 20 870 swifts 20:33 – 20:50
August 22 740 swifts 20:32 – 20:49
August 24 240 swifts 20:23 – 20:42
August 26 45 swifts 19:52 – 20:25
August 28 170 swifts 20:19 – 20:33
August 30 200 swifts 20:23 – 20:31
September 1 188 swifts 19:53 – 20:21
September 3 240 swifts 20:13 – 20:25
September 5 163 swifts 20:00 – 20:24
September 7 270 swifts 19:48 – 20:15
September 9 359 swifts 19:53 – 20:17
September 11 469 swifts 19:41 – 20:14
September 13 323 swifts 19:56 – 20:07
September 16 255 swifts 19:43 – 20:06
September 18 395 swifts 19:48 – 20:02
September 19 311 swifts 19:46 – 20:00
September 21 422 swifts 19:29 – 20:01
September 24 219 swifts 19:06 – 19:49
September 25 213 swifts 19:39 – 19:49
September 26 177 swifts 19:14 – 19:49
September 27 278 swifts 19:19 – 19:40
September 28 163 swifts 19:30 – 19:50
September 29 230 swifts 19:05 – 19:47
September 30 188 swifts 19:17 – 19:43
October 1 292 swifts 19:25 – 19:45
October 2 255 swifts 20:26 – 20:38
October 3 382 swifts 19:28 – 19:41
October 4 216 swifts 19:24 – 19:32
October 5 190 swifts 19:25 – 19:33
October 6 251 swifts 19:09 – 19:15
October 7 420 swifts 19:17 – 19:27
October 8 60 swifts 19:21 – 19:27
October 9 19 swifts 19:19 – 19:24
October 10 Meeting at Tolles Career Center
October 11 6 swifts 19:13 – 19:16
October 12 5 swifts 19:10
October 13, Zero in chimney, but five flew by. Watched 18:27 – 19:26
October 14 Zero, Watched 18:24 – 19:24
Zion United Church of Christ, 51 West Central Ave. n=5
August 19 5 swifts 20:28 – 20:45
August 27 3 swifts 20:31 – 20:35
September 12 Zero swifts Watched 19:21 – 20:15, no dips!
September 22 Zero swifts Watched 19:00 – 20:00, no dips!
Edwards Gym, Ohio Wesleyan University, north chimney on east face, n=4
August 21 9 swifts 20:29 – 20:44
August 29 17 swifts 20:16 – 20:29
September 6 4 swifts 19:48 – 20:11
September 14 37 swifts 19:54 – 20:05
First Commonwealth Bank, 41 North Sandusky St., n=5
August 23 146 swifts 20:27 – 20:43
August 31 407 swifts 20:06 – 20:22
September 8 420 swifts 19:42 – 20:22
September 20 3 swifts 19:44 – 19:48
October 15 Zero swifts Watched 18:25 – 1923
That’s it! No swifts were sighted over downtown Delaware.
Gray Chapel, OWU, west chimney on north face. n=3
August 25 8 swifts 20:00 – 20:32
September 2 15 swifts 20:05 – 20:23
September 10 7 swifts 20:00 – 20:08
I hope to have more swift news to report before the next fall migration. Meanwhile, swift on!