Before there were chimneys . . .

While canoeing Bayou DeView (in southeast Arkansas), our group was delighted with the music of songbirds and glimpses of brilliant birds darting through the understory or flying through the tree canopies (see my last post of April 28 on the Prothonotary Warble).

Of course, we saw a variety of birds, like beautiful Wood Ducks (who breed in this bayou), and I won't soon forget the image of a Great Blue Heron flying toward us from a spur off the bayou. Watching this majestic bird ply its way low over the water and through the sun-dappled trees was thrilling, so you can imagine our surprise when seeing another heron following in the wake of the first.

Of those birds we saw and heard, the most numerous were the Prothonotary Warblers, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Wood Ducks, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Chimney Swifts. And of these the most visible were the swifts, a"blackish swallowlike bird with long, slightly curved, stiff wings and no apparent tail (unless spread)" (Tory Peterson).

When not nesting or roosting at night, Chimney Swifts spend their time flying. And my experience of them was more a sense of their numbers and movement through the sky as dark, gliding silhouettes, weaving intricate patterns high above tree canopies. Their darting, swift flight while catching small insects is sometimes described as "batlike." And unlike most birds that that sit on perches, Chimney Swifts cling with long claws (also batlike) to the side of chimneys or other vertical surfaces (read additional Cool Facts about the Chimney Swift at All About Birds, a web site hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

When Europeans began to colonize America, Chimney Swifts discovered their chimneys. And gradually they adopted these brick or stone structures for their nesting sites. Personally, I'm not accustomed to seeing or hearing Chimney Swifts anywhere but in or nearby a town, so seeing so many in the wilderness took me by surprise. That's when one of our group told me that woodlands were the ancestral home of this swift--wherever there were hollow trees and/or caves. And there's no better place than a swamp with trees hundreds of years old (and thus many dying or dead from age) to find hollow treetops.

And one last note: each mating pair occupies one hollow tree. I suppose these birds are akin to people in that preference for their own "home."

Till next time . . . if you live in town or city, look up into the sky at dusk and see if you've Chimney Swifts keeping the insect population under control . . . and keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne