I, too, witnessed the masses of swifts this afternoon in Montpelier.
Probably at least 100 were flying over the Vermont College campus at around
3pm.  I've never seen that many there so I suspect they were migrants.  It
was quite a sight!  I didn't get a look at whether they were roosting
nearby but it would be worth keeping an eye out for them tomorrow.

I posted a pretty bad video of them on youtube: http://youtu.be/b72b4w8S7yU

Good birding,
Larry


On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 6:39 PM, John Snell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> This is good news! About 10 years ago a large colony nested in an unused
> chimney at the gymnasium at Vermont College; one year they failed to
> return, not sure why.
>
> John Snell
> Montpelier
>
>
> On May 13, 2013, at 6:23 PM, Scott Sainsbury 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
>



-- 
Larry Clarfeld
Environmental Educator
Youth Birding Coordinator

North Branch Nature Center
713 Elm St.
Montpelier, VT 05602

www.NorthBranchNatureCenter.org
(802) 229-6206
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