Chimney Swift Bird Nest
During their spring and fall migrations large numbers of chimney swifts can descend with considerable ceremony to spend the night together in a suitable chimney found along the way.
Chimney swift bird nest. While migratory birds are beautiful to observe from afar most homeowners do not want them taking up residence in their homes. Before Europeans arrived in North America the bird used to nest in large hollow trees and sometimes in rock crevasses. But in spite of our best efforts there will still be occasions when a nest will fall and very young Chimney Swifts will end up in the fireplace where the parents are unable.
The Chimney Swift nests in dark places safe from predators and inclement weather. The nesting pair are easy to spot as they leave and return to feed the growing baby birds. Please remember chimney swifts are protected by law and a federal permit is required to disturb their active nests.
In the past the three were sometimes considered to be conspecificIt has no subspeciesThe chimney swift is a medium-sized sooty gray bird with very long slender wings and very short legs. Unfortunately chimney structures tend to be the favorite nesting place of the chimney swift a small cigar shaped bird that migrates to North America from Peru each spring before returning South in the fall. Its tiny body curving wings and stiff shallow wingbeats give it a flight style as distinctive as its fluid chattering call.
A member of the genus Chaetura it is closely related to both the Vauxs swift and the Chapmans swift. Even though hundreds or even thousands of chimney swifts drop into a single chimney to roost at dusk during fall migration that chimney will host only one chimney swift nest during breeding season. A bird species that CSIA Certified Chimney Sweeps are fond of the aptly named Chimney Swift considers chimneys to be the best shelter around.
Flocks of chimney swift birds roosting and make a nest on the inside. The most elaborate and successful of these is an artificial chimney 12 to 20 feet high and 22 feet in dimension. In late summer hundreds or even thousands of individuals may roost in one large chimney gathering in.
Manage your yard with native plantings and avoid the use of pesticides to keep an ecological balance and a good food source for your chimney swifts. That means if chimney swifts are nesting in a chimney the nest cannot be removed and the chimney cannot be screened or capped until the birds leave the area in August or September for South America. When it lands it cant perchit clings to vertical walls.
Because the bird can be easily captured and banded in such situations it has been studied much more thoroughly than other North American swifts. Across the state volunteers and bird lovers are taking swift action to help protect Audubon North Carolinas Bird-Friendly Communities 2016 Bird of the Year the Chimney SwiftChimney Swifts are in steep decline and the chimneys where they roost are rapidly disappearing as. Luckily for homeowners chimney swifts have an extremely short nesting cycle.
A bird best identified by silhouette the smudge-gray Chimney Swift nimbly maneuvers over rooftops fields and rivers to catch insects. If you hear rustling or scratching followed by the chirping of baby birds you have nesting swifts. Report your swift nest to the Cornell Lab of Ornithologys e-Bird.
It takes just six weeks for hatchlings leaving the nest. For decades now however the Chimney Swift has usually built its nest in stone or brick chimneys which is how it got its name. Open the chimney flue and listen closely.
What to Do With a Fallen Chimney Swift Nest. The North American Chimney Swift Nest Site Research Project NSRP administered by the Driftwood Wildlife Association has designed and tested alternate nesting structures for swifts. Chimney swift bird nest.
Chimney swifts are the most notorious when it comes to birds harboring and nesting in chimneys. This enigmatic little bird spends almost its entire life airborne. The only swift occurring regularly in the east.
It once nested in hollow trees but today it nearly always nests in chimneys or other structures. Chimney swifts are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act which makes it a federal offense to damage or remove chimney swift nests until the hatchlings have left. Birds that are tending chicks in a nest make frequent trips in and out of the chimney.
To help local Chimney Swifts consider helping with the program through reporting active chimneytower sites providing homes for Chimney Swifts andor volunteering for the program. The Chimney Swift Conservation Program through the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership seeks to assess local Chimney Swift populations as well as increase nesting areas for local birds. These swift migratory birds have big appetites and find chimneys attractive.
Chimney swifts are not colonial nesters although a breeding pair will permit unmated swifts to roost in their chimney while nesting is active.
