Our Amazing Swifts LCAS Program 3/25/25

Watch on YouTube here.

The Lane County Audubon Society will feature a presentation about the thousands of little long-distance fliers who visit a local chimney each spring and fall.  Our own Dick Lamster and Maeve Sowles will discuss the fascinating life of the Vaux’s Swifts and the wonderful experience they provide to birdwatchers (new and old) who watch them roost in the Agate Hall Chimney at the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.

Vaux’s Swifts are somewhat difficult to watch as they often fly very high, hunting insects that are carried on winds above 1,000 feet in the sky. Because of this, many casual birders are not familiar with this species. They are small 4.3-inch birds with an 11-inch wingspan that hunt insects while flying all day and roost in dark chimneys or tree snags at night. If you do see one flying, it may pass by too quickly to be easily identified. Swifts are often confused with swallows, which they are not.

For decades Vaux’s Swifts have used the Agate Hall chimney, on UO campus at 17th Avenue and Agate Street, to roost for the night during their migration stopover in the Willamette Valley. They feed and recover here during their northward migration in spring as well as their southward migration in the fall. This phenomenon is a real-time nature extravaganza right here in Eugene! Vaux’s Swifts’ numbers can reach as high as 15,000 birds using the chimney for a night, or the number can be zero. When we go to count them, we have no idea what we will find.

The upcoming March Program will give more details about this fascinating species of birds.

For more, see the Program Meetings page.