See Vaux’s swifts put on a show, visit Puget Sound Bird Fest

Imagine a thousand people jammed on a stage and ask them to quickly move around and then sleep while jammed up against each other, feet on the floor. Imagine the chaos, the jostling, the sleepless night.

Imagine thousands of Vaux’s swifts at dusk, circling a chimney opening 4-feet by 4-feet, then dramatically swirling down to roost for the night, layering themselves like shingles on a roof.

You don’t actually need to imagine it, because you can go to Monroe on Saturday for Swifts Night Out and watching the show, part of the bird-centric weekend that includes the Puget Sound Bird Festival in Edmonds.

The festival’s keynote speaker is University of Washington professor of wildlife science John Marzluff, author of “Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife,” a book that explores the astounding diversity of bird species that have adapted to large populations of humans.

Despite the challenges, Marzluff remains optimistic about suburban bird-human interactions in areas heavy on asphalt and buildings and light on natural habitat, even in the face of land-use changes.

Marzluff’s talk begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Edmonds adjacent to the Frances Anderson Center.

Outings include a birding cruise, guided walks, low-tide beach walk and birding at Brackett’s Landing, and birding outings to Edmonds Marsh, Willow Creek, Point Edwards, Yost Park and Scriber Lake.

A wide-ranging class list includes bird photography, live raptor presentation, beginning birding, optics, kayaks, owls, fall and winter backyard birds, and birding for kids.

Classes are held at the Frances Anderson Center, 700 Main St., and in the Edmonds Plaza room. Check in at the registration table before attending speaker presentations on Saturday.

Also in the mix are educational exhibits and family-friendly activities.

But back to the swifts. Unlike most migrants that travel by night, Vaux’s move during the day and roost at night, spending almost all of the daylight in the air (an individual swift can eat up to 20,000 insects a day). Once hollow snags in old-growth forests were favored, but the swifts have had to adapt, and large chimneys became an alternative for tens of thousands of birds.

Local citizen-scientists have counted swifts since 2008, making it one of the longest-running Vaux’s swift counts in the country, and helped locate a series of roosts from the Old Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley to a San Diego church loft.

Typically, the bulk of the migrating swifts come through in September but with this summer’s hot streak, the Monroe bird count began Aug. 15, ranging from 412 to 5,580 swifts. They rest at various locations on their southern migration from northwest Canada and Washington to Mexico, Central America and Venezuela.

The documented highcount on the West Coast from 2008-2015 is 26,552 at Monroe.

So how do Vaux’s swifts, for which perching is very difficult because of the design of their feet, hang on to the chimney walls? They have powerful front toes and claws that can cling to rough surfaces such as bricks (or inside hollowed old-growth trees).

Chalk it up to another marvelous adaptation of the natural world.

Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.

Puget Sound Bird Fest

When: Sept. 11-13.

Where: Edmonds-area.

Expect: Guided bird walks, land- and water-based field trips, child-friendly activities, educational exhibits.

Cost: General admission is free with fees for some outings.

Information: www.pugetsoundbirdfest.org; 425-771-0227.

SWIFT NIGHT OUT

When: 4 p.m. to dusk Sept. 12.

Where: Wagner Center, 639 W. Main St., Monroe.

Expect: Vaux’s swifts, lecture, expert docents, information booths, children’s activities.