Category

Chimney Swift

The Chimney Swift is an insectivore and international migrant that lives nearly its entire life on the wing – drinking, bathing, and even copulating aloft. The bird has faced decades of decline due to a number of factors, including removal of snags and chimneys where they formerly roosted, and the loss of insects that they feed on due to pesticides. Conservationists have worked to test and build artificial roosting towers, and improve monitoring and understanding of the bird.

Interviews

Narrator: Shelia HargisTitle: ChallengesDuration: 00:02:20Date: March 12, 2023Shelia Hargis, past president of the Texas Ornithological Society and the Travis Audubon Society, has had a long interest in chimney swifts. She is both sad and clear here about the many challenges that this declining species faces, including the gradual disappearance of the masonry chimneys and dead trees in which it nests, and the collapse of insect populations upon which it feeds - risks that it can face along any portion of its long migratory route.