View high resolution
eyefivestyle:
Chapman Swifts
The Chapman Swifts are part of a migratory population of Vaux’s Swifts that roost seasonally in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is North America’s largest concentration of Vaux’s Swifts.[1]
Every evening from mid-August to mid-October, thousands of swifts gather in the sky over the school shortly before sunset. Count estimates of 1,700 to 35,000 swifts have been reported. Shortly after sunset, over a period of 10 to 30 minutes, they fly into the top of the brick chimney (constructed c.1925) to roost on the interior surface until they depart at sunrise.[2] The school is on the birds’ migratory route to their wintering sites in southern Central America andVenezuela.[3]
The swifts attract several predators, such as Peregrine Falcons and Cooper’s Hawks, as well as hundreds to thousands[4][2] of human spectators.[5]
Last year I watched a hawk swoop down and grab a swift just as the flock was descending into the chimney. Suddenly, the whole flock of swifts stopped their descent and began chasing the falcon through the evening sky - just a massive black swarm of birds pursuing a single falcon for I’d guess ten solid minutes before reforming their cyclonic descending pattern to enter the chimney.
So. Don’t fuck with a flock of swifts.