Blue Ridge Country September/October 2022 - 67

all an d
HOMES FOR
DISPLACED
Chimney Swifts
As old industrial and school buildings and their
chimneys disappear, so too do refuge spots for migrating
swifts. Work is underway to create new hollow spaces
for the birds to overnight safely.
By SU CLAUSON-WICKER
I
Chimney swifts' long wings
and short legs preclude
perching on branches like most
birds; instead they seek shelter
inside man-made chimneys.
NELLIE BLANCHAN DEGRAFF | BIODIVERSITYLIBRARY.ORG
n early March a band of
chimney swifts set off on
their long flight home,
winging some 3,000 to
4,000 miles from their
winter quarters in South
America toward Southwest
Virginia's New River Valley.
They fed on the wing, dodging
skyscrapers, towers and hawks
to reach their perennial nesting
place.
What the exhausted avians
didn't know was that their
landmark chimney home at
Radford's McHarg Elementary
School was gone, demolished
in a renovation.
Radford bird lover Wilson
Rankin, intimately acquainted
with the swifts' nesting fidelity
year after year, has reason to be
deeply worried.
" Chimney swifts are a 'nearthreatened'
species here and 'threatened'
farther north, " Rankin says. " The
loss of nesting sites in traditional chimneys
has really hurt them, that and the
decline of the insect population. "
Rankin, his wife Liz Altieri, and a band
of Radford cohorts were determined to
not let the swifts' return to Radford last
spring become a sad story. Although
McHarg chimney was gone, they planned
an artificial chimney tower behind the
school, specially designed for swifts by
the architecture firm that created plans
for the school renovation. The Radford
group had raised the necessary $15,000
over the winter months. By April 1-the
swifts' historical homecoming date in
Southwest Virginia-the 18-foot tower of
recycled brick was ready to welcome the
first swifts.
That chimney will welcome migrating
swifts again in September, as the birds undertake
their long flight back southward.
The plight of chimney swifts is dire everywhere.
In Canada their numbers are
down by more than 95 percent, partly
due to the loss of safe nesting sites. While
swifts are well adapted for flying, their
long wings and short legs make it impossible
for them to perch on branches
like other birds. If swifts can't find shelter
inside hollow trees or chimneys, they
overnight out in the elements clinging to
walls or cliff sides.
The loss of chimney swifts is a loss
to the community. A swift can dine on
up to 10,000 mosquitoes, termites, flies
and other insects a day during nesting
season. But the swifts' greatest appeal for
many, including Rankin, is the beauty
of their swooping flight and murmuring
chitter.
The sight of these acrobatic birds swirlSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
2022 67
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SCOTT OLMSTEAD

http://www.BIODIVERSITYLIBRARY.ORG

Blue Ridge Country September/October 2022

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