Chimney Swifts at Temperance Street Elementary School- New Glasgow,Nova Scotia

This video was taken on May 28, 2011. The video shows the large brick chimney at Temperance Street Elementary School in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia (Canada). An explanation of the video follows, below:


Chimney Swifts (Latin: Chaetura pelagica) are a species of bird that overwinter in the Amazon Basin and migrate north to breed in North America in the spring. Chimney Swifts spend the entire day on the wing, catching mosquitoes, bees and other flying insects before returning to their roosts at sunset. In fact, they even drink while flying, swooping low over ponds and lakes to scoop up a drink of water.

While on migration, Chimney Swifts congregate in flocks ranging in size from a few individuals to many hundreds in some roosts. They will use these roosts until conditions are right for breeding, when they disperse to find their own chimneys in which to build their nests (individual chimneys are fiercely guarded by one nesting pair).

As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, the swifts can be seen circling around, gathering in ever-increasing numbers before streaming down into the chimneys after which this species is named. It is an amazing natural spectacle, but becoming more and more rare as Chimney Swift populations decline across their entire range. In Canada, Chimney Swift populations have declined by an astonishing 95% over the past 40 years, which led COSEWIC to designate this species as Threatened in 2007. In 2009, Chimney Swifts were listed as Threatened under the Species at Risk Act in Canada.

Before settlers arrived in North America, Chimney Swifts (or American Swifts as they were once called) sought out old, hollow trees and even caves in which to find shelter overnight and build their tiny, intricate twig nests. But widespread logging and clearing of land for farms and settlement destroyed much of the forests that swifts depended upon for roosting and nesting. They readily adapted to using masonry chimneys as well as other dark, sheltered places such as air shafts, abandoned wells, barns, and abandoned buildings. However, modern advances in heating technology have reduced our use of old wood- and coal-burning fireplaces as we shift to natural gas and electric heat. With these changes came a number of chimney modifications including metallic liners, animal guards, spark arresting cages, caps to seal off unused chimneys and, in some cases, removal of the entire chimney. All of these modifications render a chimney unsuitable for swifts.
Although there are many suspected causes of population decline in this species (including the disappearance of insects that they feed on, and strong storms during migration), the widespread loss of chimneys as roosting and nesting sites is thought to be a leading factor in the disappearance of this unique and fascinating bird in Canada and the US.

Find out more about Chimney Swifts in the Maritimes by contacting Maritimes Swiftwatch (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia): marswiftsATbirdscanada.org

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Chimney Swift
• bird
• Chaetura Pelagica
• Swiftwatch