After spending their summer mating throughout May and June, Vaux’s Swifts migrate south toward Central and South America beginning in the fall.
After sunset, the birds stay warm by finding chimneys to roost in, sometimes even for a couple of weeks before continuing their journey, according to Bird Alliance of Oregon . It’s also common for them to return to the same chimney year after year.
A northeast Salem homeowner near McRae Park has been welcoming Vaux’s Swifts to his chimney for more than 37 years.
Monday night, they returned to roost in the chimney of his home.
“They were here before I was here,” said the homeowner who asked to be identified by his first name. He wasn’t aware of the symbiosis between the migrating birds and his chimney before he bought the house.
Bruce described his first time with the birds roosting in his chimney as “pretty cool.”
He said he doesn’t use or clean his chimney so the birds can keep coming back.
Bruce and his family can hear the birds flapping their wings and feeding their young in the chimney. Occasionally, a bird falls down the chimney and needs to be saved. That happened Monday night.