Vaux’s Swifts in Portland – 15 Years of Monitoring an Iconic Bird
Start Date
3-11-2024 3:00 PM
End Date
3-11-2024 3:09 PM
Abstract
For 15 year, Portland Audubon has counted migrating Vaux’s Swifts at Chapman Elementary School and other sites in the Portland region as part of a community science effort to monitor fall chimney roost site use, safeguard key roosting sites from disturbances, and educate the public on the protection of this species of concern. Data are contributed annually to a larger West Coast wide tracking effort. Vaux’s Swift population numbers have been declining for several decades, likely due primarily to habitat loss. This species historically utilized large hollowed out old-growth tree snags to roost. Now, many depend on large chimneys as they make their annual migration back and forth from their wintering grounds in the Neotropics to breeding areas in Northwestern North America. The Chapman chimney is one of the most important fall swift roosting sites on the entire West Coast and therefore is vital to protect. This chimney may host upwards of 160,000 swifts in a given season. During peak migration (mid-September) the chimney has hosted as many as 16,000 birds on a given night. The overall trend of use for this chimney over the 15-year period has remained stable, with an average of slightly over 5,000 swifts per night (Sept. 3-30). This effort has informed our work to educate the public to minimize disturbances to swifts - including by increasing recreational drone use. Along with the swift counts, our SwiftWatch program has provided educational outreach to tens of thousands of members of the public over the years connecting the importance of urban areas for birds and other wildlife.
Subjects
Animal ecology, Conservation biology, Environmental education, Wildlife biology
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41417
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Vaux’s Swifts in Portland – 15 Years of Monitoring an Iconic Bird
For 15 year, Portland Audubon has counted migrating Vaux’s Swifts at Chapman Elementary School and other sites in the Portland region as part of a community science effort to monitor fall chimney roost site use, safeguard key roosting sites from disturbances, and educate the public on the protection of this species of concern. Data are contributed annually to a larger West Coast wide tracking effort. Vaux’s Swift population numbers have been declining for several decades, likely due primarily to habitat loss. This species historically utilized large hollowed out old-growth tree snags to roost. Now, many depend on large chimneys as they make their annual migration back and forth from their wintering grounds in the Neotropics to breeding areas in Northwestern North America. The Chapman chimney is one of the most important fall swift roosting sites on the entire West Coast and therefore is vital to protect. This chimney may host upwards of 160,000 swifts in a given season. During peak migration (mid-September) the chimney has hosted as many as 16,000 birds on a given night. The overall trend of use for this chimney over the 15-year period has remained stable, with an average of slightly over 5,000 swifts per night (Sept. 3-30). This effort has informed our work to educate the public to minimize disturbances to swifts - including by increasing recreational drone use. Along with the swift counts, our SwiftWatch program has provided educational outreach to tens of thousands of members of the public over the years connecting the importance of urban areas for birds and other wildlife.