Swift Watch

Named after Sir William Vaux, this bird is the smallest and most numerous of the swift species in Washington State. It is pronounced "Voxes" or "VAWKsiz".

A family of birds that spend most of their time in the air catching insects. They look and act much like swallows but are more closely related to Hummingbirds. Their foot structure is such that they can cling, but not perch.

Swift wings have evolved differently from most other birds, and when flying they are never folded back towards the body. Swallows can’t seem to stop themselves from doing that. The difference is in the bone structure of the wing. Swallows flap their wings from their elbow joint. Swifts, like hummingbirds, have very short "forearms” and flap from their wrist.

For now they’re considered to be very similar but different species. The Vaux’s is found west of the Rockies and the Chimney Swift is east. Chimney Swifts have really taken to man made chimneys, and the Vaux’s are slowly being forced to do the same.

Audubon has a list of 29 sites known to have been used in the past, but any large, open brick chimney is a suspect. In both the north and southbound migrations of 2008 and 2009 we had observers check out 52 different potential Vaux’s Swift roost sites in Washington State. We documented swifts at 25 of them.

The Wagner Elementary School chimney in Monroe currently holds the state record of a few thousand. There is a huge chimney at the Chapman School in Portland that has had 40,000. When they all try to stuff themselves in at the same time, it becomes one of nature’s most spectacular events. On May 7, 2008 Judy Alles documented 21,027 swifts entering the Wagner chimney. This is believed to be the largest number ever recorded anywhere for this species in a Northbound migration.

There is probably a survival benefit to this. They huddle together to conserve body heat so they can slow down their metabolism, maybe enough to hibernate for the night.

Yes, but there should be a lot more seen when they migrate south in the fall.

A pair of Vaux’s Swifts will spend most of the summer raising three to seven young. If they all survive, two could become nine making the return migration in August. There may also be other factors involved.

Going north, the last week of April, and going south the middle to end of August. Vaux’s Happening has observers posted in central Oregon and on the north shore of the Columbia River to sound the alarm. Going into the 2010 migration we have partners as far south as Sonora Mexico. Our first sighting at Wagner in 2008 was 4/16. In 2009 it was two days later.

Look for Vaux’s Swifts gathering around and then entering a brick chimney in Washington State around sunset, then submit your report here.

Pretty good if you are looking in Monroe. If you find them elsewhere it will be a big deal, put a smile on your face, and make you want to brag about it.

That’s the plan, and that’s what it’s going to take to document how much trouble these wonderful little birds are in. The project has thankfully caught on, and we have identified roost sites from San Diego to the Yukon. But we always need more help observering the roosts and managing the data. If you're interested in getting involved, email Brian Zinke at director@pilchuckaudubon.org for more information.