It is that time of year again…It’s time to congregate on the lawn at Chapman School in NW Portland and wait patiently for the unpredictable performance of the Vaux’s Swifts. What is a swift you ask? They are small insect-eating birds that migrate south each year, roosting as they travel in hollowed out trees and large smokestacks. Since the mid 1990s, as many as 35,000 swifts have roosted each September in the chimney at Chapman School, making it the largest known roost of migrating swifts in the world.
This is an annual event for my family and we look forward to it every September. We love to pack a picnic dinner, gather our blankets and enjoy an evening on the lawn with friends. About an hour before sunset and about a half hour after, the swifts gather, organize and perform aerial acrobatics until finally funneling as a magnificent black fog into the school’s chimney to roost. If you haven’t had a chance to enjoy this experience, I suggest you add it to your list of September activities. If the swifts put on a less than memorable performance, you can still enjoy a low budget night out with friends and family.
This is a free event. Volunteers from the Portland Audubon Society are there most evenings in September with information about the swifts, binoculars and a spotting scope for viewing.
What: Swift Watch
When: September 1st - September 30th
Where: Chapman School, NW Pettygrove and 25th, Portland, Oregon
For more information about this event and on the Vaux’s Swifts, please visit http://audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch
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