MONROE — Hours before the wildlife spectacle was scheduled to start Saturday evening, crowds of birders gathered in front of Frank Wagner Elementary School, sitting in lawn chairs angled toward the school’s 31-foot chimney.
Hundreds and often thousands of Vaux’s swifts can descend upon the chimney some nights. Over 500 swifts were recorded on Aug. 19, 2021; over 800 on the same day in 2019. But as the sun set in the light haze of wildfire smoke at the 2023 annual Swift Night Out Event in Monroe, only four or so swifts were spotted.
The reason why was unclear.
Organizers said the event still allowed observers to appreciate the roosting site and commemorate the fight to preserve it.
Almost 16 years ago, the Monroe School District planned to demolish the chimney at Wagner Elementary, over concerns about its ability to withstand earthquakes. At the time, officials didn’t realize the animals in the chimney were birds.
“They thought they were bats,” said Jeff and Eileen Hambleton, the self-proclaimed “Original Swifties” who helped save the chimney.
The local chapter of the Audubon Society received $100,000 in state funding in 2007, allowing the organization to give the chimney a seismic retrofit. Cameras were also installed during renovations, providing livestream footage of swifts as they descended into their sleeping quarters.
The site was also designated as an Important Bird Area in 2013, preserving the chimney as a critical habitat.
Historically, swarms of swifts migrate to Monroe — once on their way to Canada in spring and again en route to Mexico in the fall. A group of swifts will continuously fly around in circles until one of the birds decides to dive toward the chimney. Once one swift goes in, the rest follow “like a funnel,” Jeff said.
“Sometimes they end up shingled one on top of another,” Jeff said.
Swifts don’t have back talons, so they can’t stand upright or perch. Their hooked claws, though, allow them to cling to bricks inside old industrial chimneys, usually constructed before World War II, because the interior is rougher and easier for the birds to grasp.
The small brownish-gray birds also roost in hollowed-out old growth trees, but as mature forests decline, more swifts are roosting in human-made chimneys, said Brian Zinke, executive director of the Pilchuck Audubon Society.
“They’ve kind of adapted to the human environment now,” Zinke said.
The Hambletons said people travelled from as far as Leavenworth to come to this year’s Swift Night Out. Eileen said she and Jeff informed several birders at the event there likely would be few, if any, swift sightings. Many of them still stayed.
Zinke said the event allows anyone — not just birders — to appreciate the spectacular.
“Monroe has this really cool wildlife phenomenon in their backyard,” Zinke said. “Not many cities have that.”
Ta’Leah Van Sistine: 425-339-3460; taleah.vansistine@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @TaLeahRoseV.
Ta’Leah Van Sistine reports on the environment and climate change for The Daily Herald. Her journalism is supported by the Herald’s Environmental and Climate Reporting Fund. Learn more and donate: heraldnet.com/climate-
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