THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507140235
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: MARY REID BARROW
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
At the least bit of jostling or other disturbance that might mean dinner, the hungry baby chimney swifts would noisily buzz away like little bumblebees.
The three charcoal gray youngsters were unlike any baby bird I had ever come across. In addition to chirps that sounded like buzzes, their compact, tubular shape was far different from the awkward floppy build of other young birds.
``They look like little cigars,'' said wildlife rehabilitator Sandy Krebs, who is caring for the little orphans that ran afoul of a chimney sweep.
And their most unusual feature of all is their ability to hang on to vertical surfaces. ``They stick to you like Velcro,'' Krebs said.
She put one of the babies on my T-shirt and in an instant it was gripping the material with its strong claws and nails. To free the swift, I had to use two hands - one to hold it and the other to pry its little feet away from the cotton threads.
Chimney swifts, even as young as those, also have bristly tail feathers that end in tiny spines. The tail provides a third leg of sorts for clinging to the vertical wall inside a sooty chimney, a common swift habitat.
Historically, swifts nested and roosted in hollow trees. However, today, they nest almost exclusively in chimneys, barns, silos and other manmade cavities, thus their common name. Swifts build a nest of twigs that they glue together and affix to the inside of a chimney with their saliva which works like an adhesive.
The little birds were also new to Krebs who doesn't come across much in nature that she's not familiar with. However she is learning fast. Twice in one week recently, Krebs found herself caring for young swifts which had been displaced from their nests.
Krebs had her first introduction to swifts when Christine Ricci, a resident of Middle Plantation, found a baby swift in her fireplace a couple of weeks ago. Ricci and her family had just moved into the house, which had been vacant for awhile, and they could hear birds in the chimney from the beginning.
``It was a loud chittering every 20 minutes or so,'' Ricci said.
But then one day she saw the family cat staring intently into the fireplace. ``There was this tiny little thing clinging to the side of the brick,'' Ricci said. ``It would try to flutter and walk on the brick.''
They called a chimney sweep from C&J Chimney & Roofing who retrieved another baby from higher up in the chimney. Then he capped the chimney and the Riccis took both birds to Krebs.
``She told me that there were usually always more than two babies,'' Ricci related. ``She said to go home and listen. Sure enough later we heard more noise and we called the chimney sweep back and he took the third bird out.''
Then Krebs, knowing the babies would be better off with their parents, decided to try and reunite them. She convinced the Riccis to get the chimney sweep back to take the cap off again and leave it off until the babies grew up.
``He came back a third time and took the cap off,'' Ricci said. ``He didn't charge us and he's willing to come in the fall after they've all gone to South America and put the cap back on.''
Then Krebs put the babies in a little cage on the ground outside the Ricci house. The youngsters began to buzz. ``The parents flew in overhead, coming closer and closer,'' Ricci said.
Knowing the parent swifts had not given up on finding their young, Krebs put the babies up on the damper in the Riccis' chimney. ``Believe it or not the parents are back feeding them!'' Ricci said.
Krebs didn't have the same success returning her other group of swifts to their parents. They will spend their childhood buzzing at Krebs for their dinner until they grow old enough for her to release them back in the neighborhood where they were found.
If you find a baby chimney swift in the fireplace, you can put it back above the damper if it's fully feathered and healthy. If it doesn't have many feathers, call the Wildlife Society, 425-2068, for advice, Krebs said. Also call the Wildlife Society, she added, if a larger cavity nesting bird like an owl or woodpecker gets down in your chimney. Big birds can't fly out out of chimneys on their own.
Lastly Krebs suggests that folks have their chimneys cleaned in late winter or in the fall. That way you will avoid disturbing the chimney swifts that spend their summers here before migrating south.
P.S. ENJOY COUNTRY COOKING at the 41st Lotus Luncheon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at Tabernacle United Methodist Church, 1265 Sandbridge Road. Tickets are $5, adults, and $2.50, children.
GOURMET SEASONINGS, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Norfolk Botanical Garden, is the second in a series of summer programs for herb lovers. The fee is $8 for garden members and $10 for non-members. Call 441-5838 to find out more. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555 (category
2290). Or, send to my Internet address: mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by MARY REID BARROW
Cigar-shaped baby chimney swifts have an unusual ability to hang on
to vertical surfaces. ``They stick to you like Velcro,'' says
wildlife rehabilitator Sandy Krebs.
by CNB