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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chickadeedeedee" data-source="post: 1543343" data-attributes="member: 31336">~Lovely~ photos and stories!  :t:After checking the basement and chimneys for *stray* Swifts, I went outside and camped on the front drive to watch my friends in action.  They circle solo or briefly in groups of up to 15 (as quickly as I could count) ... twittering the whole time. At times one will swoop down low  ~just~ above the trees. When this happens, there's a little cloud of insects that gets released from the leaves  and as they fly off the Swifts gather them up. An interesting way to harvest!From the opposite direction one came wizzing past me below the tree canopy! Their ability to fly and bank to the left and right at full speed is quite amazing! It's no wonder that sometimes their brakes can't stop them from winding up in the basement. LOL!I soon learned how to spot a Swift that was going to enter the chimney. They go silent!  No twittering as they come closer and then the Swift makes a turn and a vertical dive into the chimney.  A split second later the sound of hungry Swift chicks erupt through the stones.  :t:  Less than two minutes later the adult Swift flies out of the chimney and the twittering and search for food continues. Now it is the chimney inhabitants who go silent until the next meal.Seems there's dinner service every 15 minutes or so.  I've not seen more than one adult entering the chimney at a time but in the early morning Mike counted 18 Swifts leaving the chimney!  :t:</blockquote>

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