October 1st, 2008
So tonight we went to watch the end of an annual event known as Chapman’s Swifts. Every year, hundreds of Vaux’s (pron: vox’s) Swifts–Chaetura vauxi–rest on their migration to warmer climes in chimneys and other dark vertical surfaces. Portland, as it turns out, has one of the largest populations in the country.
As a result, each year hundreds of people show up to the Chapman school before sunset, bring their picnic meals, and watch the sky fill with hundreds of birds all making their way into a rather large chimney. It’s actually quite a spectacle. There were literally tons of birds circling the school in a giant cyclone of swiftiness. Very reminiscent of Hitchcock’s The Birds.
And to give you an idea of what we saw, the power of YouTube. Mind, I didn’t take the footage, I just found it. To wit:
October 9th, 2008 at 20:33
That’s kinda creepy. and the music doesn’t help the situation!
October 9th, 2008 at 20:49
I’m not responsible for the video! But it was kind of a creepy experience thinking about all those birds swooping down on you.