Every year the Vaux Swifts migrate south to Central America. And every year on their way down, thousands of these birds gather and use the chimney at a local elementary school as an evening roost. There are literally thousands of these birds. They start gathering about a hour before sunset and just as the sun is dipping down they all start circling and flying into the chimney to roost. It is quite the site to see! This has become a very popular site to watch in Portland. Hundreds of people gather on picnic blankets, with snacks and wine (duh) every night from late August to Early October to watch the ‘show’.
My husband’s office is just a few blocks from Chapman Elementary so last Friday night Luna and I met him at the office and walked over with our blankets, snacks and wine in tow 🙂 Luna is loving birds and airplanes right now so we thought this would be the perfect thing to take her to, and we were right, she loved it! It was a perfectly clear and an usually hot early Fall day in Portland so that made the experience all the better. Next year we decided we will go a couple weeks earlier. While there were still thousands of birds there are a lot more earlier on in September, making the flight into the chimney that much more spectacular.
I’m already excited to take her back next year but if you’re interested in going this year, they’ll be around for just another week or two! If you want more info on the Swifts you can check out the Portland Audubon society here.
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