Spring Migration Brings Vaux Swifts Back to Roseburg

The Vaux Swifts have begun their migration and have started to arrive back in Roseburg. They gather in the chimney next to the Umpqua Valley Arts Center. The birds tend to enter the chimney a little bit before or just after sunset. This Friday, there will be music from the Swift Sisters and Friends to listen to beginning around 7 pm. Here is more from the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society: "Vaux’s Swifts (pronounced “vawks”) nest only in Western North America, migrating to Central and South America for the winter. Each year, Swifts gather in the chimney adjacent to The Clay Place in the Fir Grove section of Stewart Park off of Harvard Avenue behind the Umpqua Valley Arts Center during their migration. Around sunset during migration, Swifts gather in the dozens, sometimes hundreds or thousands, to communally roost. Typically, these roost sites are, as here, old industrial chimneys. While numbers vary from year to year, the display can be spectacular. We're lucky to have a roost site in a city park, where it's easy to watch from your car or in a chair on the lawn, following CDC protocols. As always, chapter members and friends will participate in the West Coast wide data collection effort by being at the chimney several evenings during the migration to do a census. We know swifts have lost much of their natural habitat and the number of chimneys available for roosting and nesting is also on the decline. Little is known about even the most basic habits of Vaux’s Swifts, to say nothing of how many there actually are. Working in conjunction with our partners up and down the west coast, we hope to fill in some of the data gaps. Information about the Vaus’s Swift migration and these monitoring efforts is available vauxhappening.org. The spring migration will likely continue through most of May. For more information, contact Umpqua Valley Audubon Society at info@umpquaaudubon.org."