This School Is for the Birds! - Brief Article

Ranger Rick, Sept, 2001 by Charles Schaeffer, Art Cosing

Every September, the kids at Chapman School in Portland, Oregon, keep an eye on the sky while they're out on the playground. Why? They're waiting for some dark little birds to start circling above them. The birds are called Vaux's (VAWK-sez) swifts.

Thousands of them hang around the school in September. They fly in noisy circles overhead. Then, at sunset, the birds do an amazing thing. Whoosh--they dive into the school's tall chimney! It looks as if a huge vacuum cleaner just sucks them in.

The birds are usually safe from enemies when they sleep inside the chimney. And snuggling together helps keep them warm when autumn nights become cool. They cling to the chimney's walls and to each other with their sharp claws.

Cold Classrooms

But wait a minute! Isn't it dangerous for birds to hang out in a chimney when the furnace is on? You bet! That's why the school's janitor always switched off the furnace when the birds arrived. "We don't want to roast the poor little birds or make them sick with smelly, smoky fumes," he'd say.

To keep warm in the cool school, the kids and teachers would wear sweaters, coats, hats, and mittens. They didn't mind--it was their way of helping the birds.

Warm Again

This year things are going to be different. The kids and other bird lovers collected $75,000 so Chapman School could get another furnace. The new furnace has a chimney that birds can't fly into. The money was also used to fix up the old chimney. It won't be used for the furnace anymore, but it will be kept for the birds to stay in every September. And some of the money is being used to build a little nature center to tell the story of the swifts.

What's the Story?

Millions of Vaux's swifts migrate down the West Coast every fall. On their way south, they stop at different places to rest and eat. They used to gather in old, dead trees to spend the night. But many of these trees have been cut down by people. So now, thousands of the swifts roost in chimneys instead.

The colony of swifts in and around Chapman School's chimney has grown to about 40,000 birds. That's the largest colony of Vaux's swifts in the world! Most of the swifts roost in the school's chimney, but some use other nearby chimneys or trees. Hundreds of people come to watch every evening when they fly into Chapman's chimney.

The swifts sleep in the chimney every night till the end of September. By October there are fewer and fewer insects flying around. Then most of the birds take off for the long trip south. As the kids wave good-bye to the birds, they hope that the swifts will always choose their chimney as the best place in the world to spend September!

Like Mice

Vaux's swifts are little brown-and-gray birds with long wings and short tails. A swift's body is less than five inches (13 cm) from beak to tail--about as long as a computer mouse.

Why Bother Walking?

These birds never walk or hop around on the ground. They can't even perch on a branch. During the day they fly, fly, fly. They eat while flying and take baths by skimming the surface of the water. They may even mate while flying. The only time they stop during the day is to sit on their eggs or feed their babies.

Whoosh!

These birds are swift flyers--they can speed along at 100 miles (160 km) per hour. And some fly as far as 2,500 miles (4,000 km) when migrating in spring and fall.

Flight Food

Swifts eat almost nothing but flying insects. An adult swift eats thousands of them each day. And when nesting, each parent makes as many as 50 trips per day, delivering more than 5,000 insects to the babies.

Nest Glue

Vaux's swifts nest in western Canada and the states along the West Coast. Their nests are shaped like bowls cut in half. The swifts use their own sticky saliva to glue the nests to the insides of hollow trees and chimneys.

Little Twitters

These swifts make twittery and buzzy noises that sound something like tip-tip-tip-zeeeee-rip.