BEAK OF THE WEEK CHIMNEY SWIFT Family: (Apodidae) Swifts Small, sleek, brownish-black with silver-gray throats, chimney swifts are often called “flying cigars”. Like all swifts, the Chimney Swift forages on the wing. Food items are flying insects, including various species of flies, ants, wasps, bees, whiteflies, aphids, scale insects, stoneflies and mayflies. It also eats airborne spiders drifting on their threads. Chimney Swifts are unable to perch or stand upright and must have chimneys or similar structures in which to roost and raise their families. They have specially designed feet, that enable them to cling to vertical surfaces, and produce a sticky saliva that they use to hold their twig nests together and attached to vertical surfaces. Chimney Swifts historically used large tree hollows for their roosts and nests, but now have adapted to chimneys and other man-made structures as the trees were mostly destroyed. Chimney Swifts today rely almost completely on humans for their nesting and roosting structures. FUN FACTS Chimney Swifts fly almost constantly except when they nest or they roost at night. They even bath in flight, gliding down over water, smacking the surface with their breast, and then bouncing up and shaking the water from their plumage as they fly away. Join Houston Audubon at one of our family friendly ‘Swift Night Out’ events this fall, meet fellow bird enthusiasts and learn more about the lifestyle and habits of this amazing bird. The first event is on August 26 click the link for more details: houstonaudubon.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/670/MenuGroup/Swifts.htm photos by Greg Lavaty
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 14:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015