[ValleyNature] Wolfville chimney swifts May 20/10 + summary to date

[James W. Wolford]

May 18, 2010 - After the evening walk at the Irving Centre in  
Wolfville, it was time to check on chimney swifts.  George E. Forsyth  
had heard and seen three of them not far from University Hall at  
Acadia Univ. on May 17 an hour before Sunset, so I chose to watch the  
southwest chimney from 8:40 to 9:00 p.m. (Sunset was 8:38).  I did  
see a couple of isolated swifts, but neither showed interest in the  
chimney.

Then I went down to the Robie Tufts Nature Centre and watched there  
from 9:02 to 9:15 p.m., and I saw 6 chimney swifts dive into the  
chimney from 9:04 to 9:10.  (Of course, the mass of swifts would have  
gone in there long before my watch tonight.)  The weather was clear  
sky, calm, and warm (18 to 16 C.).
---------------

May 20, 2010 - Robie Tufts Nature Centre in Wolfville at dusk: 65+  
chimney swifts were counted as they went into the chimney for the  
night, on a beautiful evening -- clear, calm, warm (19 to 17 C.).   
Pat Hawes & I watched from 8:20 to 9:10 p.m. (Sunset was 8:40).  A  
single swift swooped by the chimney several times right after our  
start, then numbers built up very slowly, with about 12+ flying  
around at low altitude by 8:38.  The first swift entered the chimney  
at 8:40 (precisely at Sunset), one more in at 8:50, 2 more in at  
8:54, and nearly all of the remaining swifts funneled in very quickly  
between 9:05 and 9:07.  Other observers were a couple from Ottawa and  
a few liquor-store shoppers and passers-by.
---------------
2010 CHIMNEY SWIFTS SUMMARY

May 1/10 - 0 - Robie Tufts Nature Centre (RTNC), Wolfville  
-              Jim Wolford
May 4/10 - 5+ - RTNC, Wolfville -                                   
Harold Forsyth, Jim Wolford
May 4/10 - some heard (guess perhaps 25??) - Middleton -            
Claire Diggins
May 5/10 - 44 - New Glasgow, Temperance St. School -                   
Ken McKenna
May 6/10 - 115 - Middleton Reg. High School  
-                                     Wayne Neily
May 8/10 - 100+ - New Glasgow, Temperance St. School -            
Elizabeth Doull
May 8/10 - 5 - seen along Butler Rd., sw. of Kentville  
-                      Rick Whitman
May 9/10 - 50+ - Wolfville, RTNC  
-                                      Jean & Stephanie Timpa
May 13/10 - 50+ - Wolfville, RTNC -                                  
Wendy Elliott, Jim Wolford
May 17/10 - 52 - Wolfville, RTNC  
-                                           Brenda & Bill Thexton
May 17/10 - 386 - New Glasgow, Temperance St. School -              
Ken McKenna
May 18/10 - zero - Wolfville, University Hall  
-                                          Jim Wolford
May 20/10 - 65+ - Wolfville, RTNC -                          Pat  
Hawes, Jim Wolford, et al.

Cheers from Jim in Wolfville, 542-9204

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