Swift by name and by nature

Chimney swifts started arriving here last week during their spring migration. There are many older homes with masonry chimneys in my neighborhood in Lancaster, PA. The chimneys offer ideal nesting sites for the swifts. These birds fly high and fast. Auto focus is useless for shooting swifts, which are in constant fight until they come in to roost in the chimneys and other hollows after dark. Following them with a long lens while manually focusing was a challenge.










Rooftops across the street from my home.

Fun Facts About Chimney Swifts (from U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service)
-Among the fastest flyers in the bird world---60 miles per hour or more
-Can echolocate but not as well as bats
-Dine exclusively on flying insects, eating one-third of their body weight per day
-Despite their small size (21 g), they can fly up to 500 miles per day while hunting insects
-Forage at great heights – above buildings and treetops – 65 to 3,000 feet or more
-Captures more than 1,000 flying insects a day---up to 12,000 when feeding young
-Annually fly more than 6,000 miles (10,000 km) on round trip migrations to South America and back.
-Can fly over 1.2 million miles (2 million km) in a year
-Can live up to 14 years in the wild, but most have a life span of about 4 years