Hi everyone, it was quite the exciting evening at the Whiteside chimney tonight
(one of many swift roosts in Corvallis). A Cooper’s Hawk was sitting brazenly
on the lip of the chimney when I arrived close to sunset. I estimated 150-200
swifts (I counted 170 when they went in) were circling but they obviously
didn’t want to risk going in with the hawk sitting right there waiting for
dinner. I could imagine they were getting nervous about where they were going
to spend the night! Finally they started to go in and the hawk grabbed one of
the first and took off. The rest flew after the hawk in a mob, and I’m
anthropomorphizing here, but I like to think they were trying to save their
comrade……A minute or so later they circled back and dropped into the chimney.
I’m still curious to know if anyone has observed swifts using any of the other
chimneys in Corvallis this spring. I checked the usual suspects quickly before
I went to the Whiteside, but there were just one or two birds circling at one
of the residential chimneys, and the others had none circling.
Best,
Mary GarrardPOST: Send your post to obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
JOIN OR QUIT: //www.freelists.org/list/obol
OBOL archives: www.freelists.org/archive/obol
Contact moderator: obol-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
