Hi folks,

This evening, I finally made it down to the swift spectacle near the
Capitol Bldg in Olympia. Apparently, the birds have been going into
a chimney for the past 4 weeks, and there are but a fraction of the
numbers that were here even a week ago. One of the neighborhood
residents said that he'd been told numbers of 700 to 900 at the peak
of abundance 2 weeks ago.

The chimney is at the residence at 1610 Water Street. There is a
State of Washington parking lot at the NW corner of 16th and Water,
just south of the Capitol, that affords good viewing of the birds, both
before and during their entrance to the chimney.

When I arrived at about 6:45 p.m., there were about 20-25 birds circling
the area, with more arriving every few minutes. By 7 p.m., there were
about 300 circling the neighborhood, and a few birds had dropped into
the chimney (another bird-watcher thought that some were going into
and then coming out of the chimney... do they do that?).

At 7:12, the first birds of the 'main swirl' began dropping tail-first into
the chimney. I estimated 260 birds into the chimney, and all but about
10-12 had gone in by 7:17. These stragglers had all entered the flue
by 7:21, and the show was over.

The year before last, the swifts were going into a chimney about four
blocks away to the east of this house, but the homeowner screened-
off the chimney after the birds had migrated. Good to see that the
swifts found another 'home roost' close-by.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net