| Description: About 5 1/2 inches long,
they are dark gray brown, paler on the throat and chest, with long, pointed
wings and a short, square tail. The female lays 4 - 5 white eggs which hatch
in 19 days. The young leave the nest 14-18 days after hatching.
Habitat: Chimney swifts are found
in cities and rural areas. They build a nest in a chimney or near the eaves
of a building, attaching a semicircle or twigs to the inside of a chimney
with a sticky saliva.
Foods: They eat insects and spiders
which they catch while flying.
Facts: Swifts are almost always in
the air, flying with a bat like flight. Distinctive, streamlined birds, they
usually fly in groups and migrate in large flocks. The short spiny tails
of Chimney Swifts proper them against inside walls of chimneys when resting.
There are three western swifts: Vaux's Swift (4 1/2), similar to the Chimney;
White throated Swift (6 1/2), of steep canyons; ar the rare Black Swift
(7 in.) the last to colored as their names imply.
Did you know?: Chimney swifts fly
and glide continuously, except when nesting or roosting. During migration,
whole flocks will roost together, shoulder to shoulder, while clinging to
the inside of a chimney.
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