- Chimney Swifts are small, all dark swifts with a reputation for flying fast.
- They are most conspicuous as they forage on warm summer evenings as huge flocks migrate mid-September.
- Swifts fly almost constantly. They bathe and drink by skimming water surfaces.
- They don’t perch but use their strong claws to hold on to vertical surfaces.
- Originally, these birds nested in large hollow trees, but now they mainly nest in man-made structures such as large open chimneys.
- Recent changes in chimney design, with covered, narrow flues, have decreased the available nest sites and may be a factor in declining population numbers.
- The birds lay 3 to 7 white eggs in a nest is made of twigs glued together with saliva. The incubation period is 19-20 days, and the fledglings leave the nest after a month.
- Chimney Swifts eat about 1/3 of their weight every day in bugs.
- They usually forage for insects in groups, flying together closely and making a high-pitched chipping noise.
- Chimney swifts winter in the Amazon Basin of Peru. They arrive in the continental United States in late March and are gone by early November.
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