Chimney Swift fun facts

Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica

• 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.