A dire mystery has the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society asking the public for help: vast numbers of the migratory birds, Vaux’s Swifts, have disappeared. The hanging questions are: Why? And where have the swifts gone?
Thousands of these birds pass through Oregon every spring and late summer, to places as far south as Venezuela. Their chittering and mesmerizing aerial “dance” often draws crowds, before they dart into an old chimney or smokestack to roost for the night. Among the sites the birds use is the University of Oregon’s Agate Hall chimney.
Tracy Maxwell of the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society told KLCC that right after 2023, Vaux’s Swifts around Roseburg went from 2,500 to zero. She fears it’s part of an overall trend based on what she’s seen of migration data shared by various agencies and universities.
“Forty percent fewer birds coming back from migration,” said Maxwell. “So our bird species are declining rapidly all over the world, it’s a combination of effects, all the things you can imagine.”
Factors that could be at play are: increased hollow tree snags in the forests due to recent wildfires; the birds are spread out among smaller chimneys, making them harder to spot; increasing air temperatures; the presence of raptors at popular gathering sites; or….?
“The bottom line is that we don’t know,” concedes the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society’s website. But determined to learn more, the organization is inviting locals to search the skies for flocks of the swifts around sunset, and track where they congregate in the Roseburg area. Information can be shared at their website.
For many years, the birds frequented the Clay Place chimney in Fir Grove Park. In 2022, the birds shifted from the Umpqua Valley Art Center to the Roseburg Courthouse, which has a considerably larger chimney, according to Maxwell.
“And the numbers that came to that chimney really increased,” she said. “We had up to 7,000-8000 birds for four nights in a row in September 2022, which was really fun to see.”
But in 2023, county courthouse administrators decided to cap that chimney, since it served as a backup to the heating system. If that system activated, it would potentially put the Vaux’s Swifts in danger.
Most of the birds did not seem to regroup at their former resting spot.
“The following year, 2023, we had lower numbers at Umpqua Valley Art Center,” explained Maxwell.
Maxwell is also encouraging residents to keep their cats indoors, place stickers on windows to prevent bird-glass collisions, and turn their outside lights off during the migration period to prevent confusion and possible injury to the Vaux’s Swifts.
“Also, you can record bird sightings in the EBird app which is helpful for data collection,” added Maxwell.
For now, the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society would just like to know where the Vaux’s Swifts have gone. And if someone finds a roosting spot that’s publicly accessible, the society says its staff will immediately organize a Swift Watch.
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