Chimney Swifts

[Kim Bruff <kimbruff@yahoo.com>]

Questions about chimney swifts:
This time of year, in piedmont NC, do chimney swifts
fly in groups, in the late afternoon (5:00), hunting? 
If so, where do they "live?"  Do all of them roost
together?

Something is flying over my and a neighbor's house,
and over the edge of the woods, in a group of 20 or
so, diving and fluttering... batlike... 
The neighbor has a martin house, but these just look
more like Chimney swifts... curved, crescent shape to
the wings, an uneven flap with sometimes a flash of
white, no apparent tail.

My only experience with Chimney swifts was a nest in
my grandparent's chimney on Roan Mtn last summer, just
single family, not a flock like this.  

I'd love any replies.  Even feel free to tell me how
dumb I am, I take great comfort in knowing that I'm
not as dumb as "my" female bluebird.  With me standing
just inside the garage door, not 1" from her, she
repeatedly flew straight into the window, convinced
she was attacking an interloper.  We stuck paper
"predator silhouettes" on the glass and she hovered
about 3 times, studying them, before deciding they
were not real.  Then she perched on them to better
bash her own brains against the glass.  Now, if she
could tell the silhouettes weren't real, why can't she
figure out what a reflection is?  And don't worry,
I've got a decorative flag hanging over the glass now.
 If this keeps up, I won't be able to see out any of
my windows.  I wish she would quit worrying herself
about all these windows and get down to the business
of laying some eggs.

.....kim bruff


=====
.....kim bruff
Perched on the Wake/Johnston County line in NC
kimbruff@yahoo.com

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