Portland, OR

Vaux's Swifts, small insect-eating birds sometimes described as “cigars with wings”, migrate south en-mass each year, roosting as they travel in hollowed trees and industrial chimneys. The Swifts travel as far South as Venezuela.

Since the mid-1990s, the Swifts have roosted each September in the chimney of Chapman School in NW Portland, Oregon. Each year hundreds of onlookers gather on the lawn of Chapman school, from about an hour before sunset to about a half hour after, to watch the Swifts gather, organize, perform aerial maneuvers, and finally funnel in a black fluttering cloud into the chimney to roost. As many as 16,000 swifts gather in the Chimney. Onlookers often arrive with blankets and supper to complement the experience.

However, the reliable decades-long behavior of the swifts abruptly changed in 2024. The swifts arrived as usual in early September, but suddenly and completely disappeared before mid-month. They were located nesting in the chimney of a Greek Orthodox Cathedral miles away in northwest Portland where they remained for the rest of this stop on their migration. There is no certain reason why they unexpectedly relocated like this. Some say hawks in the vicinity of Chapman School scared them away, though bird experts note that hawks have always had a presence there. The question now is whether the swifts will return to the school in 2025.