Chimney Swift birds take flight at UNC's Davie Poplar tree

On the evening of Oct. 2, community members gathered around the historic Davie Poplar on McCorkle place, eagerly awaiting thousands of Chimney Swifts, a type of small bird, to fill the sky. During the event, fittingly called “Swift Night Out,” people observed a phenomenon of many birds swarming around the tree.

Held by UNC’s Avian Society, the event included speakers and attendees hoping to share their love for Chimney Swifts with fellow bird enthusiasts. Member Sydney McLean said the roosting of the Swifts helped kickstart their love of birds, also saying the event is significant because Swifts typically aren’t found roosting in trees. 

“Watching birds is very mindful, as well, super peaceful,” McLean said. “I mean, once you start [bird-watching] it's kind of like Pokemon Go for adults.”

Retired UNC biology professor Haven Wiley said that the Chimney Swifts have been sighted all over the eastern region of the United States for centuries, typically congregating during September and October. 

Before roosting at the Davie Poplar just a few years ago, the birds could be found in chimneys all along Franklin Street. Chimneys are their usual roosting place and gave the birds their distinct name. Since then, many chimneys along Franklin have been removed due to new heating methods, causing the Swifts to find a different roosting place.

Wiley said that when roosting, the birds must attempt some “amazing sort of acrobatics” in order to fit thousands of birds into such small spaces.

“When they get inside the chimney or Davie Poplar, they have to stop and flip over because they grab the side of the chimney or the side of the cavity, where there are already hundreds or even thousands of other Swifts,” Wiley said. “They've got to find a place there and grab on the side of it, facing head up. So they have to come in and do a flip, find a place, and grab it all in literally a split second.”

UNC Associate Professor Keith Sockman said the Chimney Swifts create a unique shape when they roost, in comparison to other bird species. 

“Let's say you have those thousand birds, and they all just kind of randomly come in together, you might see a bunch of birds, a lot, coming in together,” Sockman said. “But if instead, they come in in a sort of coordinated pattern, like Chimney Swifts are known to do, they might resemble more of like this coiling funnel-like action.”

After roosting at the Davie Poplar during the fall months, the birds take off and fly to tropical South America around mid-October. They come back from the Amazon region in late April or May and nest all over North America.

The declining Swift population in North Carolina is a growing concern for some, with Wiley saying their numbers have decreased by 40 percent in the last 20 years due a decline in chimneys and insect populations around North America. 

Bird-lovers in the Chapel Hill area have taken to building artificial chimneys, roosting towers and eliminating pesticides in hopes of preserving the population of Chimney Swifts that inhabit the Davie Poplar and other spots around North Carolina.

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