GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A crowd of
several hundred people gathered in the growing darkness outside Chapman
Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, before the first Vaux's Swift darted
into view high above.
Minutes later, thousands of the
tiny birds were swooping and swirling like a cloud of pulsating black ink as
they circled a tall brick chimney silhouetted by the fading light.
The humans below, watching from a
patchwork of blankets and empty picnic baskets, cheered as the flock poured
into the chimney all at once, like water spiraling down a drain.
The swifts' noisy migratory
stopover each fall has made this chimney famous with bird lovers as far away as
Europe and is a quirky Portland tradition so embraced by locals that the school
keeps the diminutive Vaux's Swift as its mascot.
But in recent years, fewer of the
beloved birds have shown up. The birds were already struggling because of the
destruction of old-growth forests and now some scientists believe they are
being further impacted by the destruction of old brick chimneys along their
migratory path.
The birds can fly for about 100
miles at a time between stops as they travel from Canada to Mexico and back
each year and roost in large numbers in tight, enclosed spaces because their
body temperature drops at night.
But the decades-old smoke stacks
they've adopted are getting torn down and capped off along the West Coast
because of redevelopment, seismic concerns and an urban annoyance with swift
poop and noisy flocks. When a chimney that's been a major roosting site
disappears, no one is sure exactly where they go.
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