Nesting pair of Chimney swifts at Kent Pond today.

Cheers Roy Pilcher 


-----Original Message-----
From: Alison Wagner <[log in to unmask]>
To: VTBIRD <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, May 20, 2013 8:00 pm
Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] swifts galore


With the Hinesburders this morning, we counted 15 Swifts!  That's a new 
all-time high for me at Hinesburg Community School.  The kids didn't seem 
too impressed by "Nature's original gliders," as I like to call them, until 
I explained their behavior!

Ali
Huntington

-----Original Message----- 
From: Scott Sainsbury
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 7:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] swifts galore

Happy to see a good number -- 10+ -- of Swifts in Waterbury today.  Always a 
thrill to see the acrobats at work.
Scott
Moretown

On May 20, 2013, at 6:14 PM, Ken Copenhaver wrote:

> Sorry to hear that.  That probably explains why I haven't seen any recent
> Swift reports from Bennington on VTBird.  I just checked eBird and there
> have been only a few reports of small numbers of swifts in the past 10
> years.  I saw them in May 2008, but didn't report them on eBird.
>
> --Ken Copenhaver
>
>
> On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 3:24 PM, Bonnie Dundas <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Ken,
>> My husband tells me there was a brick building on the corner several 
>> years
>> ago but was torn down. Sad for the swifts, sad for us.
>> Bonnie
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Ken Copenhaver
>> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 10:15 PM
>>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] swifts galore
>>
>> Hi Bonnie,
>>
>> I just looked at a list of Bennington hotels and I think it was the
>> Kirkside Motor Lodge on West Main St.  We were walking back from dinner
>> downtown, so we were headed west on Main St.  The building with the large
>> brick chimney was on the left, set back a bit from the street, only a 
>> block
>> or two before the motel, which was on the right.  The factory building
>> didn't look like it was in current use at the time, so I'm wondering if
>> it's still there.
>>
>> Hope that helps!  Would be curious to know your thoughts.
>>
>> --Ken
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 9:51 PM, Bonnie Dundas <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Do you remember where you were??
>>> Bonnie Dundas
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Ken Copenhaver
>>> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 8:02 PM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] swifts galore
>>>
>>>
>>> Great story, Scott.  Some years ago my wife and I were in Bennington.
>>> While walking back to our motel just before dusk, a swarm of probably
>>> hundreds of swifts streamed into a large brick chimney on an old
>>> industrial
>>> building.  The show lasted only a minute or so.  There weren't many 
>>> other
>>> people out walking, but those who were there didn't seem to notice or
>>> care.  I've often wondered if the swifts continue to use that chimney? 
>>> Is
>>> the chimney even still there?  I don't remember reading any reports of
>>> this
>>> on VTBird.  Can any Benningtonians fill me in?
>>>
>>> --Ken Copenhaver
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 6:23 PM, Scott Sainsbury <
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>> This afternoon, in Montpelier, a merlin -- probably that seen often
>>>
>>>> recently and reported here by the city's denizens -- caught my eye.
>>>>
>>>> Near it, were a few Chimney Swifts.  Soon, the Merlin headed back 
>>>> toward
>>>> the State House and out of my view.  But the Swifts did not.
>>>>
>>>> First there were a few.  Then 10.  Then twenty or thirty.  Soon there
>>>> were
>>>> well over a hundred -- more than I can ever recall having seen at one
>>>> time.
>>>>
>>>> It was a wondrous aerial show.  They seemed to concentrate over the
>>>> hillside where National Life sits.  Then, they would wave over 
>>>> downtown,
>>>> and circle back to the south.
>>>>
>>>> After about 10 minutes, they just melted away.  In 30 seconds or so,
>>>> there
>>>> wasn't a single one in sight.  If you asked me, I couldn't tell you 
>>>> where
>>>> they went -- or even what direction.  They just suddenly weren't there.
>>>>
>>>> It was like it never happened.  And what was even stranger was that 
>>>> there
>>>> was a large number of people around me, walking up and down Main 
>>>> Street.
>>>> Here I was standing in the middle of the path looking up at the sky
>>>> through binoculars, virtually blocking their way, and not a single 
>>>> person
>>>> looked up.  It was kind of eerie -- like I was in the Chimney Swift
>>>> Twilight Zone and no one else got it.  I think it's one of those great
>>>> birding moments you tend to remember for a long while.
>>>>
>>>> Scott Sainsbury
>>>> Moretown
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>


Scott Sainsbury
Beacon Associates
P.O. 1660
Waitsfield, Vt.  05673
802-496-9393 ext 13
802-249-0525 (mobile)
www.beaconassociates.com