February 20, 2014
Vaux's Swifts
In September, 2012, Rick surprised me on a date by taking me to Rio Lindo Adventist Academy in Healdsburg to witness a natural phenomenon. We arrived before dusk and found the building of focus. A dozen or two people were already gathering, some with folding chairs and snacks. Rick didn't tell me what was about to happen, just that an old brick building with a large chimney was to be the focal point. We explored the back of the building, the south-west corner, where there were no other spectators. I'm an avoider of crowds, but also am drawn to sunlight facing lighting when I have a camera in hand. We noticed that there was a large ravine behind the school, between the hills, and that the billions of flying insects that filled the air were very visible in the setting sunlight.
We also found an old rusty truck among the weeds while we waited for the sun to sink lower.
A few small swifts appeared, and suddenly hundreds. After a few minutes the air began to fill with thousands of the birds, swirling and vortexing through the sky.
A merlin, predator bird, attacked the swarm and I heard a thud a couple feet from me.
After the last bird was tucked away in the chimney, Rick and I explored closer to find out if we could hear them inside, though we couldn't. Everyone else had left and we were alone in the dark, knowing that the chimney behind us contained ten's of thousands of vaux's swifts.
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arianna (27), bird (5), birds (27), building (4), dead (29), migration (1), night (33), rick (15), vauxs-swifts (1)
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Arianna (20), Birds (27), Creatures (75), Dead Stuff (24), Degree (56), Night (12), Old Buildings (4)
Arianna Helen