Tweeters,

Very little is known about the whereabouts of Black Swifts in south-central
Washington, especially south of the Snoqualmie Pass corridor. Here are some
notes on information obtained this week, thanks to the initial clue provided
by Denny Granstrand.

BLACK SWIFTS COMMUTING OVER CHINOOK PASS?
22 AUGUST 2000

Records of Black Swifts are few indeed south from the Snoqualmie Pass
corridor on the east slopes of the Cascades. North of this pass in
Washington, especially in the tremendously over-deepened glacial valleys of
the North Cascades, this species seems fairly common, apparently nesting on
the super-wet, west-side cliffs, perhaps mostly behind waterfalls. South
from there, this enigmatic and spectacular species has mostly escaped
detection in Yakima County. Bill Tweit noted one near Rimrock Lake on a June
Breeding Bird Survey. I searched for them diligently without success on a
July trip into the Goat Rocks along the North Fork of the Tieton River where
breeding or foraging habitat might occur. I have noted migrants flying
swiftly west on upper Cold Creek on the Yakima Training Center twice: 15 and
23 September 1996. That constitutes the database for Yakima County.

So, when Denny Granstrand told me the evening of 20 August he got a brief
glimpse of a "probable" Black Swift just east of Chinook Pass, I made plans
to return as soon as I could. Ellen and I arrived the next evening; she had
a reasonable, but very brief view of two large swifts that briefly sailed,
as is the nature of the Black Swift (in contrast to the near-constant rapid
wingbeats of the Vaux's Swift). I also had a millisecond view of a large
swift, but the bird was soon lost from view behind the towering peaks at the
pass.

Intrigued, Ellen spent a few hours the next morning on 22 August surveying
the skies over the meadows from near Pleasant Valley east of Chinook Pass on
up to the pass. I had a hunch a few pairs of Black Swifts might be nesting
around some of the waterfalls in the area: either Union Creek or Messatchee
Falls; these birds might be tied to airspace over meadows in the area in the
morning hours. She observed Vaux's, but no Black Swifts.

I convinced her to go again in the evening of the 22nd. We returned to the
pass at 1830 and saw no birds in the next 30 minutes. We descended to
Pleasant Valley and spent another 30 minutes surveying the sky, again not
seeing any swifts. Irrationally, I suggested we return to Chinook Pass,
where, in a few minutes, we had excellent scope views of several Black
Swifts flying very directly (though interrupted by a few glides) east right
over our heads into Mt. Rainier National Park. An historic nesting site
there is on the Cowlitz Chimneys; perhaps this site is still occupied.

I believe Black Swifts are probably regularly foraging in the skies
somewhere high over western Yakima County; certainly this statement bears
further testing, but these are my initial thoughts. Given the date and the
protracted incubation and fledging period (incubation 24-27 days and
fledging 45-49 days, giving a total of ~ 75-80 days), I suspect these birds
are still returning to their nesting cliffs west of the crest and not
southbound migrants.

The parking overlook just east of the Chinook Pass summit provides an
excellent vantage to observe these incredible birds as they zoom eastward
from afar at eye-level and then right over one's head as they dash west over
the Cascade crest.

I thank Denny for alerting me to the possibility of these Black Swifts in
Yakima County. Further fieldwork may show that Chinook Pass will prove to
be a "flyway," a regular site in Yakima County for observing commuting Black
Swifts.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
Steppie at nwinfo.net