Every September, the kids at Chapman School in Portland, Oregon, keep an eye on the sky while they're out on the playground. Why? They're waiting for some dark little birds to start circling above them. The birds are called Vaux's (VAWK-sez) swifts.
Thousands of them hang around the school in September. They fly in noisy circles overhead. Then, at sunset, the birds do an amazing thing. Whoosh--they dive into the school's tall chimney! It looks as if a huge vacuum cleaner just sucks them in.
Millions of Vaux's swifts migrate down the West Coast every fall. On their way south, they stop at different places to rest and eat. They used to gather in old, dead trees to spend the night. But many of these trees have been cut down by people. So now, thousands of the swifts roost in chimneys instead.
The colony of swifts in and around Chapman School's chimney has grown to about 40,000 birds. That's the largest colony of Vaux's swifts in the world! Most of the swifts roost in the school's chimney, but some use other nearby chimneys or trees. Hundreds of people come to watch every evening when they fly into Chapman's chimney.
We brought a picnic, and sat on the lawn with a ton of other people. We ate cupcakes, cake, and enjoyed a beautiful summer night. When the hawks came in to get their own swift dinner, we booed and hissed at this villain!!!! It was a fun evening....the camera doesn't do it justice....
Oh, and can you tell that Mo is in the middle of a sugar frenzy?
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