chimney Cove: Welcome Skidaway swifties

Skidaway Audubon News:  Audubon Welcomes ‘Skidaway Swifties’

Skidaway Audubon's new project is called Chimney Cove.  The tower is at Priest Landing and Landings Way North for the Chimney Swifts to nest in during nesting season in the spring and summer and to roost in during spring migration and fall migration.  

Welcome Swifts!   No, it's not the Taylor version of Swifts, but fascinating little flyers called Chimney Swifts.  Between 1970 and 2014, researchers documented a 65 percent decline in the number of Chimney Swifts. The decline is attributed to the loss of nesting sites: old growth forests, old industrial chimneys, and capped residential chimneys.

Swifts are desirable neighbors as they consume thousands of mosquitoes, gnats and other flying bugs every day as they dart through the air. And these little dark gray birds with a 12-inch wingspan must fly constantly. The baby birds hatch in about 20 days and leave the nest about a month later. At the end of the breeding season, the birds form large flocks and fly to South America for the winter.