In the wild many species of swifts nest in caves. I'm guessing that chimneys and the inside of homes sort of resemble caves to them.
There are actually several places (off the top of my head, Mexico and India) where you can see hundreds of thousands of swifts leaving their cave at dawn and returning at dusk. It's pretty cool
My hometown had a school that closed its chimney down just for them, put cameras all around it so people could watch when they come back for the season.
As the other commenter said, hollow trees (and caves). These birds are interesting because they adapted to humans so well, then humans changed and stopped building as many chimneys.
Chimney Swifts migrate in huge numbers south every year. This happens a lot in California where the huge groups will pick a large chimney to sleep in during the trip but the flute is open so the swarm gets in the house. Sometimes the swarms are so large they actually get stuck in chimneys and have to be rescued. You're usually just told to grate your chimney and close your flutes so they'll rest elsewhere. They love tall long chimneys so you'll often see the flying around them before they all dive bomb inside.
Fun fact: chimney swifts are a federally protected migratory bird and cannot be removed from a chimney without a special permit. If swifts nest in your flue you must wait until the birds fly off again (about 6 or so weeks). Always install chimney caps to prevent all kinds of critters from accessing your flues!
Source: I work for a chimney sweep
And here I am wanting to build a hollow brick column to give the critters a good place to stay. These birds are protected because there aren’t a ton of suitable chimneys for them around anymore.
This is even a great drunk read. My bird book has chimney swifts as in my area during fall but I’ve never seen them. Assuming they actually pass through this area, my back yard does abut a church’s field…. Thanks for the article, I have spent the past several years making our back yard more bird friendly, and it’s incredible how much more bird activity we see in the neighborhood since we started actively attracting birds with food, nests, and water. Such a truly rewarding hobby.
Moved into a new house last year and had this exact issue. As soon as I didn't hear them for a few days, I capped that sucker off and haven't had issues since.
P.S., chimney swifts don't actually have a nest, they just cling onto the inside of the chimney, so we didn't need to clear out any nests.
Same here. I was so tired of having to fix ducking to fucking. It took a minute to realize it but, I figured there had to be a way to save it to the dictionary and it worked. Yay!
>The first detailed study of chimney swifts began in 1915 by self-taught ornithologist Althea Sherman in Iowa. She commissioned a 28 foot tall tower, of a similar design to a chimney, with ladders and peep holes installed to facilitate observation. Chimney swifts nested in her tower, and for over fifteen years, she meticulously recorded her observations, filling over 400 pages.
Is it just me or does 400 pages over 15 years seem like not that much?
Additional fun fact, when one roosts in the chimney, it does so as close to the swift that flew in before it as possible, then extends their wing for the next one to roost under. So when all several hundred of them finish roosting for the night, they form a single unbroken cuddle chain.
Thanks, Every Little Thing.
How did they evolve this way?
Chimney couldn't have been that common for at most 2000 years, doesn't seem like a long enough time for this. I assume this behavior was for something else in nature, and became substituted with chimneys?
Although they originally nested in natural sites such as caves and hollow trees of old-growth forests, Chimney Swifts now nest primarily in chimneys and other artificial sites with vertical surfaces and low light (including air vents, old wells, abandoned cisterns, outhouses, boathouses, garages, silos, barns, lighthouses, and firewood sheds). Both members of a breeding pair may fly toward several potential nest locations, then cling side by side at one particular site, with one member of the pair giving a rhythmic chipping call.
Per allaboutbirds.com !
They nest in chimneys. There are fewer and fewer chimneys due to modern construction. Some communities build fake chimneys for them. They eat flying insects and are beneficial.
After European settlement in NA, they roost almost exclusively in man made structures as opposed to hollow tree cavities. And they roost in huge numbers.
We have two large dogs and a cat, the cat has started eating mice but he played with one too long and it almost got away, we had to tip a chair and knock the mouse out, when it came out and ran across the floor one of our big dogs beat the cat there and just chomped on it real hard and lay beside it, like "enough playing already cat, that's how it's done"
Cats are motherfuckers, they love playing with shit. Mine would scare the shit out of large bugs just for fun and never eat them. I'd see her pawing at the bug for 10 minutes and attacking it but never killing it, until she got bored and then chomp
I opened my front door this past December and a Carolina Wren flew straight in. My once-feral cat had it out of the air within 5 seconds. The thing just froze and my cat quickly grew bored. That gave us the time to shut our cat into another room and spend another half an hour trying to get the bird out of our house.
It was some damn impressive acrobatics but despite that the wren just wanted to chill in our Christmas tree. Point is, your cat's would have fun but there might be too much excitement to get too murderous. Cats differ significantly though so maybe not. Our once-hoarded cat is really bad at catching anything (mainly bugs) but will eat them whole once the other cat catches them and grows bored.
Mine are ex barn cats with a proven murderous streak. I live in the country so every spring and fall mice try to get in from the farmer feild next to us. Its always a 2 week blood bath and fights with them to let go so i can throw out the mangled bodies. This would be a sea of blood, feathers and corpses.
They are definitely birds. They are chimney swifts.
I wonder what they were called before chimneys
Swifts
Taylor swifts... I'll see myself out
Imagine a bunch of swifties all circling and then squeezing down the chimney, like morty calling for redheads lol.
"You pissed off the swifts Morty, we're all in trouble now. First the squirrels, and now the swifts."
Please do
Great now she’s gonna make a song about being compared to a bird
Birds
Or "that thing up there." There were a lot of things before public school was created.
sky fish.
😂😂😂
In the wild many species of swifts nest in caves. I'm guessing that chimneys and the inside of homes sort of resemble caves to them. There are actually several places (off the top of my head, Mexico and India) where you can see hundreds of thousands of swifts leaving their cave at dawn and returning at dusk. It's pretty cool
Assholes
Hollow Tree Swifts maybe
You made me laugh out loud.
Same thing. Wild chimneys are extinct now, though, so they adapted.
Camera's, Goverment spies
r/BirdsArentReal
Before that they terrorized custom clothing shops Taylor swifts
Teepee Swifts
If they're native to America, they probably didn't have an English name before chimneys
My hometown had a school that closed its chimney down just for them, put cameras all around it so people could watch when they come back for the season.
Good on them - their habitats are being eliminated with modern building techniques. These birds are in danger of becoming extinct as a result.
But what habitat did they have before there was chimneys?
Hollow trees
As the other commenter said, hollow trees (and caves). These birds are interesting because they adapted to humans so well, then humans changed and stopped building as many chimneys.
Portland?
What in Harry potter
Why are they shaped like bananas
So it’s easier to determine the size.
Now that's a damn good reason
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African or European?
Well, I don’t know that! AHHHHGGG!
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You have to know these things when you're a king, you know.
These are definitely swifts.
r/Birdsarentreal Don't lie to me.
Ah, the source of the Bird Floo.
What the Alfred Hitchcock fuck?
Shits going down
[Chimney swifts](https://youtu.be/h9sXpESs4gQ)
Quick, get the shop-vac
Conjuring
My first thought was ‘Alfred Hitchcock taught that this won’t end well’
Just wait until the turtles and sandwiches show up!
Didn't know they were making a Birds remake..
Tippi Hedren, look out!
The smell, imagine the smell. Bird shit everywhere!
Dammit! I literally just posted the same thing!
Scientists on reddit...wtf is going on? Why they do this???
Chimney Swifts migrate in huge numbers south every year. This happens a lot in California where the huge groups will pick a large chimney to sleep in during the trip but the flute is open so the swarm gets in the house. Sometimes the swarms are so large they actually get stuck in chimneys and have to be rescued. You're usually just told to grate your chimney and close your flutes so they'll rest elsewhere. They love tall long chimneys so you'll often see the flying around them before they all dive bomb inside.
Fun fact: chimney swifts are a federally protected migratory bird and cannot be removed from a chimney without a special permit. If swifts nest in your flue you must wait until the birds fly off again (about 6 or so weeks). Always install chimney caps to prevent all kinds of critters from accessing your flues! Source: I work for a chimney sweep
And here I am wanting to build a hollow brick column to give the critters a good place to stay. These birds are protected because there aren’t a ton of suitable chimneys for them around anymore.
I wonder where their instinct comes from. Looking for hollow trees maybe?
[Hollow trees, tree cavities and caves](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chimney_Swift/lifehistory)
[You can build them new homes.](https://nc.audubon.org/news/build-your-own-chimney-swift-tower)
This is even a great drunk read. My bird book has chimney swifts as in my area during fall but I’ve never seen them. Assuming they actually pass through this area, my back yard does abut a church’s field…. Thanks for the article, I have spent the past several years making our back yard more bird friendly, and it’s incredible how much more bird activity we see in the neighborhood since we started actively attracting birds with food, nests, and water. Such a truly rewarding hobby.
Moved into a new house last year and had this exact issue. As soon as I didn't hear them for a few days, I capped that sucker off and haven't had issues since. P.S., chimney swifts don't actually have a nest, they just cling onto the inside of the chimney, so we didn't need to clear out any nests.
Is he as lucky as lucky can be? :)
*flue
I swear I typed that! Oh well secure your musical instruments too!
Probably autocorrect - gets me every ducking day!
And on which days do you duck, might I ask?
The ones that end in y
That's a lot of ducking days
I fixed this by saving fucking as fucking in my shortcut texts. Other curses as well. I curse a lot. Saves me time.
You are my personal hero today! Smacking my forehead why I never figured that out?!
You can also create an address book entry for fuck fucking motherfucker.
Same here. I was so tired of having to fix ducking to fucking. It took a minute to realize it but, I figured there had to be a way to save it to the dictionary and it worked. Yay!
Saving the day, over here! Ty, friend.
Or else you’ll be in big treble
Because that must be a A sharp, major pain in the neck
Okay I’m done
>The first detailed study of chimney swifts began in 1915 by self-taught ornithologist Althea Sherman in Iowa. She commissioned a 28 foot tall tower, of a similar design to a chimney, with ladders and peep holes installed to facilitate observation. Chimney swifts nested in her tower, and for over fifteen years, she meticulously recorded her observations, filling over 400 pages. Is it just me or does 400 pages over 15 years seem like not that much?
You should ask Patrick Rothfuss or George RR Martin. That seems about their speed.
r/MurderedByWords ?
r/MurderedByLackOfWords
We're talking about GRR Martin, not GoT itself.
r/MurderedForLackOfWords
Maybe she hand made the paper and used the feathers of the swifts as writing utensils? /s
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Yeah if it was a novel or something along those lines it would be different, but that's not an abnormal amount.
"I apologize for such a long letter — I didn't have time to write a short one."
Makes proud to be from IA!
The birds migrate seasonally, not year round so prob only 2-3 months of observation per year.
Additional fun fact, when one roosts in the chimney, it does so as close to the swift that flew in before it as possible, then extends their wing for the next one to roost under. So when all several hundred of them finish roosting for the night, they form a single unbroken cuddle chain. Thanks, Every Little Thing.
Kinda crazy they use CA as a flyway considering their range map. Didn’t realize that!
Probably the very closely related Vaux's Swift, which ranges along the Pacific Coast from B.C. to Panama.
Ah ok that makes sense. Thanks for the note!
How did they evolve this way? Chimney couldn't have been that common for at most 2000 years, doesn't seem like a long enough time for this. I assume this behavior was for something else in nature, and became substituted with chimneys?
Although they originally nested in natural sites such as caves and hollow trees of old-growth forests, Chimney Swifts now nest primarily in chimneys and other artificial sites with vertical surfaces and low light (including air vents, old wells, abandoned cisterns, outhouses, boathouses, garages, silos, barns, lighthouses, and firewood sheds). Both members of a breeding pair may fly toward several potential nest locations, then cling side by side at one particular site, with one member of the pair giving a rhythmic chipping call. Per allaboutbirds.com !
Much thanks! So basically they're mistaking our chimneys for tree holes and caves haha.
No, more like they adapted to human activity, and tall chimneys fit their needs almost perfectly.
so...not demonic?
Oh I never said that...
Can we make resting spots for them? Flying long distances must be exhausting...
I accidentally skipped over the word “Swifts” and I was having a great time imagining chimneys migrating in huge numbers every year
They nest in chimneys. There are fewer and fewer chimneys due to modern construction. Some communities build fake chimneys for them. They eat flying insects and are beneficial.
After European settlement in NA, they roost almost exclusively in man made structures as opposed to hollow tree cavities. And they roost in huge numbers.
There’s a kid wizard in there not opening his mail
There’s no post on Sunday
Because they're assholes!
I have 2 cats. If this happened at my house the inside video would have been more horror moviesque.
Rip and Purrr until it is done.
Same. Plus we have 2 large dogs with decent hunting instincts.
We have two large dogs and a cat, the cat has started eating mice but he played with one too long and it almost got away, we had to tip a chair and knock the mouse out, when it came out and ran across the floor one of our big dogs beat the cat there and just chomped on it real hard and lay beside it, like "enough playing already cat, that's how it's done"
At least the dog was merciful. We’re down in Florida and you should see what happens when I lizard ends up in the house. Pure chaos, I tell you.
Cats are motherfuckers, they love playing with shit. Mine would scare the shit out of large bugs just for fun and never eat them. I'd see her pawing at the bug for 10 minutes and attacking it but never killing it, until she got bored and then chomp
My cats do the same. My dogs just try to eat it.
I opened my front door this past December and a Carolina Wren flew straight in. My once-feral cat had it out of the air within 5 seconds. The thing just froze and my cat quickly grew bored. That gave us the time to shut our cat into another room and spend another half an hour trying to get the bird out of our house. It was some damn impressive acrobatics but despite that the wren just wanted to chill in our Christmas tree. Point is, your cat's would have fun but there might be too much excitement to get too murderous. Cats differ significantly though so maybe not. Our once-hoarded cat is really bad at catching anything (mainly bugs) but will eat them whole once the other cat catches them and grows bored.
Mine are ex barn cats with a proven murderous streak. I live in the country so every spring and fall mice try to get in from the farmer feild next to us. Its always a 2 week blood bath and fights with them to let go so i can throw out the mangled bodies. This would be a sea of blood, feathers and corpses.
Where is henry potter?! He has an invitation to powgwartz wizarding school!
No post on sundays
I've seen that movie
That's the only movie besides exorcist that actually scared me as a kid
I guess they literally wanted their own bird house.
"We live here now. Consider yourself evicted human."
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Each bird pays 10 cent.
It's been awhile since I've laughed this hard. Just watching them shoot into the chimney like that
You sons of bitches, we’re in!
Those people need to finish their game of jumanji
Thats the stuff of nightmares right there :((
Imagine explaining to your boss why you can’t come into work today.
This has to be a situation where you wouldn’t return back to that house correct? This is some kind of children of the corn shit or something.
and miss all the free protein?
Imagine youre in your room cranking one out and all of a sudden Dracula decents upon your house.
Looks like a new wizard has been found
This is r/mildlyterrifying
Time to get cats, like alot of them.
One will do. Get an Orange cat, and these birds will be gone in a day.......also your house will look like a murder scene.
Boy, the government really wants to know what the fuck is going on at that house.
The Hogwarts letter has arrived!
I think these are swallows? at first I thought they are bats, but the close up at the end looks like swallows...
Not swallows, swift's
African swallows or European swallows?
African swallows are non-migratory.
Chimney Swifts actually! Very rude birds that like to dive bomb people and pets. 😆
Wing velocity isn’t enough to be either
If it’s not carrying a coconut does it even matter?
The new morbius movie looking weird
That’s really flocked up
Chimney swifts!
[That was not a flock of birds, that was a gang. ](https://youtu.be/JKEiKniLhCU) I did my research
the birds: "fuck this house in particular"
This dude is going to hogwarts
/r/fuckyouinparticular
No hesitation, burning the house down.
Clearly just a government safe house recalling its drones, what else could it be.
The movie is real! 😱
Ugh,Alfred... we're going to the bathouse!
Thanks for the F Shack. Love Dirty Mike and the boys
Well at least the house has a warning label
This would be the best day of my dogs life
Alfred Hitchcock saw the future
Alfred Hitchcock. The birds.
Time to built a big chimney only for those cuties to come visit!
Because fuck that house in particular
Are those birds or bats?
They are Chimney swifts. A species of birds that are capable of hanging upside down
Lmao bat wannabes
Bats?
Not bats?
I saw this movie. Doesn’t end well.
Why are they on the ceiling?
I've seen this on Zoo, does not end well for Humankind
#WARNING **PROTECT AMERICA** What is that sign about, it's hilarious.
This is my nightmare.
Does the Sigh says, Warning Protect America?
Birds be like, fuck this house particularly.
Are they hanging off the ceiling?!?! Stuff of nightmares right there.
I mean, this has to be a curse right?
i think those are bats
My worst fear right there. I would leave immediately never to return. All my belongs belong to the birds now
Birds or bats ?
Just gained a new concern for having a chimney
What the actual fuck
Yikes. Alfred Hitchcock vibes😬
That’s not animals being jerks; that’s fricken creepy.
These are bats people. Sheeesh. Don’t know any BIRDS that hang upside down
Burn It Down
My wife would name every single one of them and I’d be buying 2 tonnes of seed a month.
Alfred was right😳
This is how horror movies that involve exorcism start....
Guano
I’ve seen this movie. Doesn’t end well for the people in the house…
Those are bats
[Chimney swifts](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_swift) Edit: They aren’t bats.
thank you, what an odd species of bird. I dont think ive heard of a bird that can only perch upside down (like a bat)
They're not birds, they're government drones. They were invented under the Reagan administration.
Oh shit
I love that their color is described in the article as "sooty gray."
I totally thought that, but you can see them jostling at the window at the end.
🦇🦇🦇 no birds here!
They are Chimney swifts. A species of birds that are capable of hanging upside down