FNORDincorporated

i am too lazy to proof read this before posting, s
o if some of it doesnt make sense, sorry.

Jenn and i went and spent a couple hours watching birds tonight. she has had tonight on her calendar for months now and we were pretty excited. details below.

every year north west portland is inundated with small scrappy “swallow-like” birds. as part of their migratory pattern (every september) the Vaux Swifts pass through oregon, stopping for a few days in Portland, a few days in eugene, etc.

generally around the 12-18 of september, their concentration really ramps up and you will find beach blankets and torrents of people hanging out at Chapman Elementray school. a couple thousand spectators and 10,000+ small birds (a night), one chimney to roost in.

Chapman School is the largest swift roost in the world. I may not have all of my facts straight (there is a lot of local lore), but apparently, over the years, the birds habitually return. they had tried at times to stop them and then finally embraced the situation. when the birds would relentlessly work at roosting regardless.

the school has a massive boiler system that heats the school and all the water for the building. on september evenings (more so mid month) 10 thousand or more birds will fly patterns over the building. they get thicker through the night until the sun starts to set. as they thicken, they begin criss crossing and synchronized spiral patterns an enmass begin entering the chimney. during this time frame, the school does not have heating so that the birds will not be harmed inside the heating system. each morning they spasm back out into the sky and scour the city and surrounding areas for food.

below, there are a couple videos. from last year or the year before. the number of swifts in JGAMAGE’s video is minimal and is either later in the evening (after most have roosted already) or on a non-peak day.. it is gorgeous to watch.

both videos have been backed up so if you find that either becomes unavailable, let me know and i can link to my backups. the below video was copied and posted locally to make sure that bandwidth would be dependable.. youtube sucks balls alot.

found on JGAMAGE’s youtube account

an interesting short news clip is also available at the Oregon Public Broadcasting website. it is very interesting, talks about the history, nature, and fascination surrounding the migration “phenomenon”

(http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/episodes/view/1106)