Hi Tweets,

All through the summer I thought I had roosting Vaux's swifts in my chimney
on the West Hill of Kent, but it turns out they are actually nesting there.
About two and one-half weeks ago we started to see whitewash on our
fireplace glass doors, then about two weeks ago loud chirping started coming
from the chimney every 15 minutes or so. Today we got confirmation when one
of the nestlings fell out of the nest into our fireplace. Thanks to Russell
Link (WDFW) and PAWs I was able to get instructions on how to get the bird
back into the nest. I could not go in from the top since the nest was well
down the chimney. However, I followed the instructions from PAWs and placed
the bird above the damper and whoosh! it was gone clawing up the wall to the
nest. Based on the plumage development (completely feathered with beautiful
pin feathers in the tail) and the length of time we have been hearing the
chirping, the nestlings are about 2 to 3 days from fledging.

Looking at Jewitt, Bent and from what Russell found, chimney nesting is not
unusual but it is not common. There is apparently an active site in Port
Townsend. Has anyone else out there in Tweeterland had this experience
before? The breeding bird atlas indicates some possible breeding
occurrences to the north in Seattle, but nothing confirmed (I think they
chose our house since we are the only ones on our block with the wildlife
sanctuary sign and no cats).

Michael R. Scuderi
Seattle District Corps of Engineers
P.O. Box 3755
Seattle, WA 98124-3755
(206)764-7205
FAX (206)764-4470
michael.r.scuderi at usace.army.mil <mailto:michael.r.scuderi at usace.army.mil>
http://www.nws.usace.army.mil/ersindex.html

"To Serve Man"