Thousands of Vaux’s Swift birds swarmed a church in Salem, Oregon, then vanished down the building’s chimney in a wild scene captured on video this week.
At dusk one recent night, about 4,000 Vaux’s Swifts were seen in the video creating a huge, dark cloud over a church steeple before abruptly diving into its chimney to spend the night.
According to All About Birds, Vaux’s Swifts are small-bodied birds with long, very narrow swept-back wings that curve along both leading and trailing edges. They are larger than an Anna’s Hummingbird, but smaller than a Barn Swallow…