[TN-Bird] Re: Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Chimney Swifts
- From: Melinda Welton <weltonmj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <woodthrush@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, tnbird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 10:33:35 -0500
Mark
Thank you for sharing what¹s going on with you chimney swift tower. Joseph
Prochaska has just completed the first tower in the Nashville area at Shelby
Bottoms Park as part of his Eagle Scout project.
I¹ve got a couple of questions:
What plans did you use for your tower and how many years did it take swifts
to find it? Was 2014 the first year the tower was used for roosting, and do
you live in a rural or suburban setting?
Melinda Welton
Franklin, TN
From: woodthrush <woodthrush@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: <woodthrush@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2014 18:47:58 -0700
To: tnbird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Bird] Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Chimney Swifts
Hello
This afternoon, October 5, from 12:00 to 2:15 PM we likely had our last
banding session of the year for Ruby-throated hummingbirds at the Seymour
banding station in Sevier County. Expecting only 3 or 4 birds we banded 13.
We had 12 males and one female and they were all hatching year (2014 hatch)
birds. Every bird was bulging with fat and 8 of the males weighed over 5
grams. The normal weight for a male would be around 3 grams. At that
weight I would expect them to be heading south soon.
I have a chimney swift tower in my yard that they have used for nesting
since 2007. While we were preparing for hummingbird banding we could hear
swifts chattering in the tower. I went into stealth mode and peeked into
the observation hole at the bottom and could see a cluster of preening
swifts. At about 11:45 we watched 26 birds emerge from the tower. The
tower has been used for roosting ever since the last of the 2014 birds
exited the tower at the end of July. We are used to 8-12 bird roosting with
us but this was an exceptional number. It was a cold morning but the
lateness of the departure was also a surprise. I always leave for work
before the swifts depart but on weekends when I've seen them it has been
around 8:00.
Mark Armstrong
Seymour, TN
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