Swift Watch 2012

        The Portland Vaux's Swifts are a sight to behold; one of my favorite Portland pass-times.  Each year in September, about 30,000 Vaux's Swifts come to roost at this elementary school in northwest Portland where the chimney has been left solely for their housing needs.  Hundreds of people come out every night to watch the real life drama, over the course of Portland's typically beautiful September sunsets.  Sometimes, a hawk or a peregrine falcon resides nearby, ready to catch its dinner.  When that raptor soars in to the tornado of swifts, the entire crowd of human

onlookers goes into fits of squeaks, screams, and cheers (depending on who they're rooting for.) 
        According to the Audubon Society of Portland, this is one of the largest migrating Vaux's Swifts roosting sites in existence. 
        As my friends and I picnic on the soccer field lawn amid the slowly darkening sky, we watch the quick black bodies come in from every direction.  Distant black spots become zipping
birds, darting in and out of the chimney, as if they can't decide whether they're ready for bed.  I like to lay on my back staring up at the dusky blue sky, trying to imagine what it's like to move through the world at their soaring speed.  As the sun sinks, the bed-time ritual becomes more urgent and a black funnel of Swifts forms, pouring in and out of the chimney as each little bird looks for a safe spot to latch on.
       As if the awesome swift tornado interspersed with falcon fly-throughs isn't enough, the school-yard hill becomes an entertainment all its own.  Kids and young adults bring squares of cardboard to sled on, squealing down the grassy hill again and again as we all wait for the Swift finale.  Just like in baseball, the crowd lessens as the conclusion becomes more and more foregone, but if you wait long enough, you will see the last little bird slip in for the night, a pretty magnificent moment knowing that there are at least 29,999 little ones already there. 

*The pictures don't do it justice so if you ever find yourself in Portland, Oregon during September, I highly recommend finding your way to Chapman Elementary School for sunset drama.