Black Swift nest sites are rare indeed. About ten years ago I did 4
or 5 evening observations at Snoqualmie Falls and gave up on it. Had
one observation where we saw some high over the falls but they headed
SW as sunset was approaching. The only reason Black Swifts would be
entering a crevice in the day time would be if there was a nest. They
come to roost late and once they have a chick to feed they are out
hunting all day and then bring breakfast, lunch and dinner home,
usually sunset or later.

There could still be some PNW chicks not ready to fly until maybe mid-
September but I think most are long gone by then.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah

On Aug 14, 2012, at 7:52 AM, johntubbs at comcast.net wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Some of you may be familiar with Scott Dodson's photography and
> videography of the Peregrine Falcon nesting pair at Snoqualmie
> Falls. Scott has documented these birds for a number of years and
> has multiple videos of on YouTube showing various aspects of the
> entire process.
>
> Scott (and Dave Templeton) have been seeing Black Swifts flying
> around Snoqualmie Falls recently (this may go back as much as a
> month or so, as I've been out of town traveling). Of much more
> interest than the sightings themselves is that Scott has now seen
> birds entering a particular crevice in the rock face behind
> Snoqualmie Falls on multiple occasions - which of course is the type
> of situation where Black Swifts are known to nest. My understanding
> is that finding a nesting site is a very rare occurrence, so I asked
> Scott if he could provide a larger format photo to provide anyone
> interested with an idea of the location of this site. That photo is
> available at http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?LID=&photoID=13234841&cat=38987
> .
>
> It is not possible to know at this point with the current
> information whether this is a nest location or just a roosting
> location during migration, but according to several sources
> (including Dennis Paulson) it could be a nest location even at this
> late point in the season. One source indicated breeding season for
> Black Swifts as June through mid-September. Addtional evidence of
> possible nesting is that the birds have been around over a period of
> time and multiple birds have been seen flying into the crevice.
>
> Scott indicates that visually tracking the swifts is quite difficult
> when they are flying below the rim of the canyon as opposed to when
> they are higher and backlit against the sky, and because of their
> speed, lower power binocs are helpful to be able to stay on the
> birds - so if you are interested in checking out the birds, be
> prepared for a challenging situation. However, it is certainly a
> rare opportunity if the birds do stay around.
>
> It certainly would be exciting if this turns out to be a nesting
> situation, and even more so if the birds return in subsequent years.
>
> Presumably many or most of the local followers of Tweeters have
> visited Snoqualmie Falls during the Peregrine Falcon nesting season
> to take advantage of the extremely unique opportunity to look down
> into a scrape in a natural situation as opposed to a pair nesting on
> a structure. The Falls pair of birds has been phenomenally
> successful with nesting - perhaps now having fledged as many or more
> young than the legendary Belle on the building in Seattle.
>
> Many thanks to Scott Dodson for sharing this information and
> providing the reference photograph. He also has shot multiple
> images of the swifts in flight - not an easy task.
>
> John Tubbs
> Snoqualmie, WA
> johntubbs at comcast.net
>
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