Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1941-09-06

During August, September and DC
tober a million or more small bird
that live in the air and probably nevel
touch ground are migrating in flock
Of thousands to their winter homes
which are probably in the great rain
forest area of the Amazon valley 81
Brazil, according to officials of thC
fish and wildlife service, United States
department of the interior The Chin
ney Swifts are heading south.
known to many as chimney swallow
the chimney swift has long attracted
the attention of outdoor enthusiasts
because of its unusual habits A species
that literally lives in the air, the CHM
ney swift Is scattered over a large
part Of the North American continent
In summer but never, except by acct
dent, sets foot on land The bird even
eats and mates on the wing.
Like a six-day bike rider who speeds
around the wooden saucer, the swift
is noted for it's speed and tireless
energy. During daylight hours
throughout the summer, it has the
habit Of continual flight, sailing, cir
cling on set wings. and then with a
rapid beat OF wings squirting off in a
burst of speed, racing along like
bike rider during a sprint or jam.
Probably the most unusual sight af-
forded by a flock of swifts is seen
at night, when literally thousands
gather and wheel in funnel-shaped
clouds over a large chimney into which
they descend to roost. Its roosting and
nesting habits have given the bird its
popular name. chimney swift.
Lives In Chimney
The chimney swift cannot walk, but
its feet and legs are strong enough
to hold the bird to the wall of a
as it roostS at night, braced
by its spinelike tail feathers. The bird,
incidentally, has been benefited by
Before white men settled
In the new world, the bird roasted
and neSted in hollow trees. NOW it |
lives in chimneys crowding from the
top. to about "a feet below it.
Though it roosts IN flocks, the swift
does not colonize during the nesting |
season. Usually only one nest is found |
n a chimney or hollow tree The nest |
s described as q little half saucer
made Of dead twigs and glued to the
vail by q salivary secretion. From four
% six eggs are laid. The young emerge
rom the nests when partly grown and
lttach themselves to the side of the
vail.
Mans first large-ssale contact with
he chimney swift came probably in
1926 when Herbert L. Stoddard at
ached numbered bands to some 200
Kinney swifts taken in a special trap.
since then over $4,000 chimney swifts
lave been banded by fish and wildlife
ervice personnel and co-operators.
approximately $500 of these birds
lave been retrapped and their band
numbers recorded. BY this means the
ish and wildlife service has been able
o study the flight habits of the bird
The largest number of chimney
Wits banded in one trap was 6.025
v Harold S. Peters, now a service
Iyway biologist, in Atlanta, Ca, in
941. In all, Biologist Peters has band
d 23,450 of these birds. John B. Cal
oun and j. G. Dickinson, operating
banding station at the University
( Virginia, Charlottesville, Va, have
anded 27.440; Mrs. F. G. Laskey of
Tenn, 1880; Ida Merri-
ian of Kingston, Ontario, 15,4O0, and
. j. Fleetwood, manager of the Pied
lont national wildlife refuge at /
ound Oak, Ga, 1880.
SO far as is known the chimney
Vift migrates in the daytime only