One of Jacksonville’s truly amazing natural phenomena is now taking place in our neighborhood, and we thought you might enjoy seeing it (and spread the word).Every year, thousands of chimney swifts migrate through Jacksonville on their way to Central America and Peru. Their annual flight path brings these birds back to the exact same place in large numbers, and for over a decade they have been roosting in the chimney of the Riverside Avenue Christian Church on the corner of Riverside and Cherry Streets.
This has been happening for years with the largest showing of these birds is usually in September /October. Each night at sunset (a little after 7:00 p.m. this week) the sky begins to fill with hundreds of the little birds, scattered over a few miles in all directions at first. Slowly, the birds coalesce into a swirling cloud. This vortex of birds moves faster and faster until they suddenly begin to shoot down the chimney at incredible speed, as many as 10 birds a second plummeting down the shaft.
In 20 minutes, the spectacle is over. The birds spend the night down in the unused chimney, and emerge the next morning at dawn to spend their entire day in flight, eating Jacksonville’s bugs, and they return to the chimney at night to complete the cycle. But they will be leaving soon, so you might want to see them while they are here.
I invite you to join Dr. Wayne Wood and others tonight at 7:15pm to watch this phenomenal display from the church parking lot.
The Humane Society has a great article about them here or you can read more about chimney swifts on the Wiki.
Thank you to Dr. Wood for sharing with us.
2 comments:
I went out there last night with the family… it is really something that should not be missed. There were about a hundred people, many with cameras, binoculars and lawn chairs… kids were playing in the playground… It was a great experience.
The Audubon president was there giving people the play-by-play. It was a real festive atmosphere… especially when the Cooper's Hawk showed up. The swifts mounted a counter attack and chased it away. All was back to the gradual circling until an osprey showed up…
Finally… when it was almost dark (around 7:30) they all made their descent into the chimney. People clapped and then went home.
I had heard there were over 500 species of bugs that an oak tree plays host to. They are like giant grocery stores for the swifts. I am glad some folks back when had the where with all to choose posterity over immediate profit concerning land use in Riverside.
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