Backyard Birds and Chimney Swifts

All of this non-birding is really starting to get to me. Between work and personal stuff there is no time to bird and even if there were, the weather is far too raw for me to want to venture outside for long. The one good thing about it is that it allows me to enjoy some of the backyard birds some. One interesting note is that the Ruby-throated Hummingbird has discovered my feeder and makes a few stops each day for a sugar fix. Of course I still have my regulars including the Tufted Titmouse pictured above.

This is him this morning. I took about 30 shots of this bird trying to get a better look at its eye. I am not sure if its sick or if it looks that way because of the rain we had but boy does this bird look like it had a rough night (notice a trend here???).

Here is a front view. The left eye doesn't look as bad in this shot. Will be keeping my eyes open. My feeders were just cleaned last week but it makes me a little uneasy.

Whatever was bothering it, it sure did have an appetite though. You will notice the branches I have around my feeder. I put them there for places for the birds to perch and it also makes for more natural looking photos then those taken on a feeder.

I had to go pick up my car at the shop after work today and decided to go through the factory in an effort to prove if my theory was correct regarding the local Chimney Swifts in town and where they go to roost each night. I have never bothered to count how many we have because it would be too overwhelming of a task, but lets just say, we have at least 60 based on my rough estimates. Each early evening they appear out of nowhere chattering about and catching insects on there wings. I had noticed in the past that they always seemed to appear near a local factory so I was guessing they were roosting nearby.

Here is the best shot I could get of a Chimney Swift. Lets just say they are active little birds and hardly ever stay still except for nesting and roosting!!

They are very acrobatic as evidenced in the photo above.

I observed the swifts for about 15 minutes. I wanted to see if any of them would enter the chimney. None of them did, but many spent most of their time around the vicinity which leads me to believe that perhaps my theory is correct. My next move will be to get to that location 15 minutes earlier than I did today to see if I can see them all flying out the of the chimney.

For all of you serious bird nerds, here is a video I took. It is approx 1 minute and twenty seconds and shows the swifts fluttering around the chimney. Fascinating stuff I tell ya and beats stamp collecting as a hobby for sure!