Chimney Swifts

This house has some history in it.  You can tell by the size of he bathrooms and plumbing.  I think it dates back to the 1930's or maybe even the 1920's.  But even if it was built in the 1940's after I was born, it still has history.

So it comes as no surprise that it frequently emits strange noises, most of which are just routine expansion and contraction as the house heats up and then cools during the night.

But when the noise is coming from the chimney in the form of animals of some kind, then we have to wonder what kind of animal and is it dangerous.

We learned that it was Chimney Swifts when Nephew # 2 told us exactly what was.  He had experience with Chimney Swifts in the past, so that made him the on-site Chimney Swift Expert.

He went on to say it is illegal to try to harm them, or even try to move them from their nest (usually in hollow trees or open chimneys.  They need to build their nests on the side of a hollow tree or within the walls of a chimney.  And, it turns out that only one family of Chimney Swifts nest in the same place at a time.  As they reach maturity, they all fly away.

Meanwhile, the faint 'chirping' we heard during the day and sometimes into the early evening started to get louder and louder.  Then all of a sudden, it was extremely loud.  And suddenly we had a bird flying around our living room here at Temporary House.  After a few exciting minutes we opened two outside doors and the bird, obviously a very nervous Mother, flew out the door, all the while with the youngsters in the fireplace chirping their little heads off.

Judy looked into the fireplace and discovered a nest had fallen from up in the chimney and some fairly large birds were calling for their next feeding.  We didn't know what to do, so we left things just as they were.  We figured Mama Bird would figure out a way to feed them until they could fly away.

This morning, they were much quieter but definitely still there.  So they must be getting food.  In typical fashion, we decided it's probably best that we not do anything to mess with nature for fear that we can do more harm than good.

One thing is for sure: we now know more about Chimney Swifts than we did before yesterday.  And the brief but noisy incident will become just one more in a growing number of brief incidents on the road to building our new home.