Outdoors

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, February 2, 2008 Vaux's swifts may lose their favorite Monroe chimney By Sharon Wootton Herald Columnist Imagine about 5,000 Vaux's swifts circling and circling just before dark. By the time darkness falls, they're ready to settle in for the night, dramatically swirling down into one Monroe chimney. The chimney works fine for the roosting swifts, who traditionally gathered in hollow old-growth snags. Thousands will meet at traditional stopover locations during spring and fall migration to accumulate fat reserves. Where once there were countless old-growth snags, most in the Monroe area have been cut down, and the swifts have dropped in numbers. Now the swifts' favorite local chimney, the old, tall brick one at Frank Wagner Junior Elementary School in Monroe, may be torn down for safety reasons. The smallest swift in North America visits Monroe twice a year, at the end of April and peaking in mid- to late-May; and beginning in mid-August and peaking in mid-September. Vaux's swifts are about 41/2 inches long with a 12-inch wingspan. They've been called cigars with wings because of their stubby tails. These swifts have a paler rump and throat than chimney swifts, a species that does not visit the Northwest. Vaux's swifts migrate to and from Central America. A group of swifts is known as a box, a flock or a swoop. They spend the daylight hours in flight feeding on airborne insects. Three Audubon societies, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Monroe School District are working together to resolve the chimney issue. "We want to keep this swift colony, which is the second largest known in Washington or Oregon," said Susie Schaefer, vice president of the Pilchuck Audubon Society. The largest known group of migrating swifts in the world comes to an elementary school in northwest Portland. When they arrive in September, Portland Audubon Society volunteers arrive every evening along with thousands of people who bring their picnic dinners and blankets to watch the swifts fly into the school's large chimney, Schaefer said. Hmmmm … an ecotourism idea for Monroe? "The district does not want to immediately do in the swifts. They like them. The children know they're there. On the other hand, we don't want any children to get hurt (if the chimney collapses)," Schaefer said. One choice besides removal is to shorten and shore up the chimney. There may have another solution. Schaefer has ordered plans for towers that have been used in Texas as accommodations for chimney swifts. Enough might be built to accommodate not only the school's swifts but to scatter the towers beyond the school. Whether the Vaux's swifts would recognize them as appropriate roosting and nesting sites is unknown. Schaefer said the town of Sumas has thousands of swifts that came to one building's chimney. The building faced demolition so swift-supporters had it designated an historical building. It was then moved to a nearby site; the Vaux's swifts found it and returned to the chimney. The Save Our Swifts group wants to resolve the issue of the Monroe swifts' chimney. The public is invited to a 7 p.m. Feb. 28 meeting (originally scheduled for Feb. 6) at the Monroe School District Administration Board Room, 200 E. Fremont St., to discuss the Vaux's swifts and alternatives to destroying the chimney. Out and about: Beginner triathletes usually don't know where to start when it comes to training. One Web site can help: www.beginnertriathlete.com. The site offers help in choosing a training plan that fits each visitor's goals and current condition. There are training and nutrition logs, videos on specific skills, training plans, race reports, answers to questions and gear reviews. Mount Bachelor is hosting the Winter Triathlon Nationals on Feb. 9, with contestants running, mountain biking and cross-country skiing (www.usatriathlon.org). Are you ready for Chilly Hilly, the Feb. 24 Bainbridge Island ride around the island (www.cascade.org)? March 8-9 is the annual International Bicycle Expo in Seattle. Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.

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