Vaux's Swifts at Monroe (September 16, 2006)

Thirteen people showed up at the P&R to carpool to the Monroe Elementary School to view the show put on by the swifts.  A number of others drove directly to Monroe and we ended up with over 20. The weather was good. We arrived at 6 p.m. with only a few swifts in the air. They would fly off in the distance and come back with a few more. This cycle kept up until the sky was covered by about 7. They would swirl over the chimney, making passes and then fly off while others took over. About 7:10 a few started dropping into the chimney. They would fly over the chimney, brake their flight  and appear to just fall feet first  into the opening. The rest kept milling around until about 7:20 when  the swifts started dropping in large numbers with each pass. When the fallout takes place it looks like funnel cloud over the chimney as seen in the photo. By 7:30 the sky was empty. Quite a sight and weell worth the time.  We also had a Merlin that made a number of passes through the flock, but without success.