On a warm September evening
Eating dinner outside on our deck
We expect for guests our usual companion birds
Feeding at our suet, seed and thistle.
A hummingbird passing through comes close
Finding our sugar water set out for it
Pausing for a long deep drink allowing us
A moment to admire this tiny long distance traveler.
Looking up we see a migrant monarch flutter and glide
Stopping to rest a moment near the spruce tree top
Then much higher up by chance we see chimney swifts
That fly nonstop all day catching insects.
So we decide to go to the nearby school chimney
In hopes we might see the migrant swifts roost
And we happen there upon a man with a few orphan swifts
Releasing them that they might fly up and join the flock.
He takes one in his hands and swings his arms up
And the bird flies above us in a large circle
Until a bird from the flock high above swoops down
Being the ambassador to guide it into the group.
A second and a third bird are released successfully
In the open space behind the school
And then it’s time for us to walk around in front
To get the best view of the chimney roost.
There are several hundred swifts flying overhead
Looking like cigars with wings paddling so fast
Chittering calls communicating among themselves
Ready to stopover here on their way to Peru.
Like clockwork in the ten minutes after sundown
By ones and twos and threes they drop down
Into the chimney out of sight for the night
Grasping onto the roughened brick surface.
To witness this spectacle is truly amazing
What little we know of the life of these birds
Whose fantastic feats are beyond our abilities
Known only to those who watch birds.
