Greetings all,
The first Chimney Swifts have started to appear in southern NH, which means
it's time to get ready for a second year of roost watching coordinated by
yours truly at NH Audubon. Last year we ended up finding over 30 roosts of
various sizes (some quite small, but a couple with over 100 birds) scattered
around the state, with most in the Upper Valley and greater Concord. This
year I'm hoping to continue efforts at the important roosts we monitored in
2014, plus broaden our search for new roosts. For the latter I'd really like
to focus on the lower Merrimack Valley (e.g., Manchester and Nashua) and the
seacoast, since there are certainly a lot of options in both. But anyone who
lives in an area that has swifts will be able to contribute!
Counting a roost isn't all that hard, although it can be tricky when a lot
of birds enter a chimney all at once. Interested parties will get a copy of
the protocol and data form, and depending on interested there may be 1-2
targeted training sessions. The trickier part can actually be to FIND the
roosts in the first place, but I'm happy to provide hints or historic
locations that people can check.
So why all this interest in Chimney Swifts? Like many other aerial
insectivores (e.g., swallows, nightjars, flycatchers), their populations are
in fairly steep decline. Since 1966, swifts in NH and the Northeast have
been declining at 2-4% per year. This means that there are on average only
25% as many swifts in our skies as 45-50 years ago. There are a lot of
hypotheses about the cause of the decline, and one of these relates to the
condition and availability of the structures used for roosting during the
non-breeding season. As a result, we're trying to find the larger roosts and
see if we can detect any patterns that help distinguish "used" from "unused"
sites.
So if you're at all interested please let me know! Reply to my NH Audubon
email below rather than this one. I can add you to me "CHSW" email list,
provide the protocol, and generally keep you in the loop as we gear things
up in early May.
Enjoy,
Pam
Pamela D. Hunt, Ph.D.
Avian Conservation Biologist
New Hampshire Audubon
84 Silk Farm Road
Concord, NH 03301
(603) 224-9909 x328
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
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