Hi Tweets,

I finally made it over tonight to the residence at 17th and Franklin in =
Olympia where the Vaux' Swifts have been putting on their fantastic =
display. My 6-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl were at least as =
impressed as I, as the 200 or so birds circled and circled the =
neighborhood, fading off a block or so, then re-grouping over the yards =
right around the roost. Again and again. The swifts finally descended =
the brick chimney in two groups - one lone bird missed taking the plunge =
for about another minute, finally settling in itself at 9:02pm. There =
was a crowd of about 2 dozen people on the adjacent side walk (who =
applauded when the last bird made it down the chimney).

I grew up with swifts nesting in the chimneys at the Anderson Farm, down =
near Ankeny NWR, Oregon. But, there were only one or two pairs in any =
given year. I'd seen low dozens go into chimneys here and there around =
the PNW, and several times into apparantly hollow trees in the =
old-growth timber. But never before had I seen 200 at once do the =
"swirl". Pretty neat!

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net