Last night Peter Lin and I watched the Chimney Swifts enter their roost in the white brick chimney on the building to the east of WildRock and visibile from the laneway behind their store (just south of Charlotte Street). Starting at around 8 pm the number of swifts flying overhead increased from 5 up to 60 (at 8:35). Then at 8:40, 30 swifts suddenly funnelled into the chimney. More swifts continued to join the swirling flock overhead and kept dropping into the chimney for the next nine minutes. By 8:50 a total of 98 swfits entered for the night. None were left in the sky. Earlier (at 8:13 and 8:36) 3 Chimney Swfits entered other chimneys in the area. We also saw a male Merlin and a Barn Swallow during our watch. Spitting rain was intermittent but didn’t seem to bother the swifts. A good viewpoint is from the top floor of the King Street garage.
Location: Peterborough
Observer: Chris Risley
