Tax Day has come and gone but the Chimney Swifts have come to stay for a while! These cool little birds may seem like they are taking over your backyard but the Chimney swifts are a federally protected migratory bird. Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) are a common sight in our area from March through October. The birds breed here, in chimneys, one pair per stack, and then gather in large roosting flocks known as “swiftnados” during their fall migration. These birds are unable to perch upright but are uniquely adapted to cling and build their nest on vertical surfaces. These birds are dependent on chimneys, abandoned building, and stone walls to roost and nest.
These birds are unable to perch upright but are uniquely adapted to cling and build their nest on vertical surfaces. These birds are dependent on chimneys, abandoned building, and stone walls to roost and nest. Historically, this species would have nested and roosted inside hollow trees or in caves, but as a wave of European settlement removed much of Alabama’s old-growth forest during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, swifts adapted to newly constructed chimneys as a place to raise their young.
But what is the common damaged caused by chimney swifts? Chimney swifts spend most of their time flying landing only to roost at night and to build and sit on their nests. Most complaints about chimney swifts are because they have created a messy nest in a homeowner’s chimney and oh the noise!
What can be done about these special little creatures? Outside of the nesting season, a chimney cap can be placed over the top of the chimney to prevent birds from having future access. A chimney cap cannot be placed if there is an active nest, as excluding the adults will cause the young to die. Most individuals notice a chimney swift’s presence when the young begin calling. This generally occurs when then young are around two weeks old. At point, it will only take a few more weeks for the young to fledge and the noise to cease.
Chimney Swifts do tend to return to the same nesting chimney year after year, either before or after their habitation is the proper time to call your CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep to inspect, clean and cap your chimney. Birds aren’t the only thing to inhabit your chimney; it’s common for raccoons, squirrels and bats to make a home in your chimney. Birds are the most common to enter your chimney and they carry the risk of histoplasmosis, a fungal disease that effects the lungs. Having a professional remove the bird nest, debris and droppings is imperative before lighting your first fire of the season, for your and your family’s health.
You should never try to relocate or interrupt the nesting of the Chimney Swifts, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act it is illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird without a federal permit. These laws should be taken seriously because the penalties for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty are shockingly steep: folks convicted of interfering with or endangering a protected species can be fined up to $15,000 and/or sentenced to six months in prison.
Just gathering the cool chimney facts for you a little at a time,
Rhonda Bean
