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Chimney Swifts




Where have all the Chimney Swifts gone?

Specically, what is known about the migration pattern of our Chimney Swifts?
I last saw them here in Columbia on Sept. 28 (though Robin Carter reported
some on Oct. 4 at Congaree Bluffs).  So I was surprised to see them
this weekend in Chattanooga, TN, to the north--but mostly west--of here.  

I saw about a thousand of them swirling around Friday at sunset, preparing to 
enter a chimney in downtown near my hotel.  Yesterday morning (Saturday), they
were very active under the dark cloudy skies (as the temperature dropped).
At least a thousand of them swirled around overhead at U.T.C. at 11am, unlike
any Swift display I have seen in midday before.

When I checked again at noon, the skies were lighter, the air was cooler,
and the swifts were gone.  I found just two or three more the rest of the 
afternoon, under clear skies after the frontal passage, from Lookout Mountain.

Do our Swifts in the Carolinas head south or west from here, and how
quickly?  How hard is it for them to find places to spend the night along
their route?   Can they fly through the night?  

Also heard Friday evening was a Common Nighthawk.

Off topic:  Can one really see 7 states from Lookout Mtn. (Rock City)?
Some of those states are sure far away...
---
Jerry Griggs       j@sc.edu
Columbia, SC