Migrations

Last night, Davis and I were finally able to witness a Portland institution-- Vaux's Swifts-- thousands of migrating birds who roost in the chimney of an old NW Portland school every night in September. Try not to be too jealous, Dad. We've been trying to go pretty much all month...and finally made it happen on the last day of September, go us. It was definitely worth seeing.

Beautiful fall evening, we made it to the school right around sunset to find the lawns packed with Portlanders of all ages.

Birds by the thousands were swirling up in the sky. We later learned that since it was so late in the migration cycle, there were only an estimated 3,500 birds still here, when earlier in the month there had been up to 12,000-- but it was still quite a sight. Apparently, this particular group of swifts is the largest known migrating group in the world, and they have chosen good ole Portland to roost every year for the past 30+ years before they make it down to Central America. Portlanders are so into these birds that they've named an up-scale apartment building after them, and on any given night in September you can find hundreds of people gathered to watch their show.

At right around 7pm, the mass of birds started forming into swirling waves, clashing with each other, and looking a lot like a tornado spiraling around the chimney.

When the first swift made its way into the chimney, the crowd let out an excited cheer. It took about 10 minutes for every last bird to make it inside-- a bunch would funnel in, then the rest would swirl and swoop around again-- it was really like they were putting on a performance for us.

When the last swift tucked himself into the chimney for the night, everybody clapped and cheered. It was really an amazing thing to be a part of-- and so inspiring to see that many people gathered on a Friday night to watch a bunch of birds flying around. Portland seems to have its priorities in order : )