Experts say the seasonal bird migration for the chimney swift is in its early stages, and as the birds begin to drop into chimneys to roost, scientists say a new tracking tool has arrived as well.

Swift Night Out Events

The birds may gather by the dozens and during the upcoming event called ‘Swift Night Out,’ and people will try to count as many as they can. ‘Anybody can participate in this. You don’t have to be a birder. You don’t have to be a trained scientist to count chimney swifts. We just send volunteers to different locations that we’ve been monitoring in the past, that we feel there should be chimney swifts roosting there,’ said Nancy Nabak, Wisconsin Chimney Swift Working Group Member.

Nabak says the birds eat insects during the day, but drop into chimneys each night to rest. Nabak says, in the past, birders relayed their findings to the online website e-bird. She says a new electronic tool is designed to help. ‘The beautiful thing about this site is that it tracks chimney swifts only. The working group partnered with American Bird Conservancy this year, and so they created this mapping platform for us,’ said Nabak.

Nabak put the site through its paces Monday morning. ‘The type of structure. Very easy to put in, like a school chimney, or a house chimney, church chimney. First and last time they saw a swift. Enter the condition of the roost structure. Any comments they might have, and photos that they want, and that’s it,’ she said.

Nabak says the chimney swift population needs help. ‘In the past 50 years, we’ve lost over 72 percent of the population of the swift. We don’t really know why that is. So again, that’s why we’re doing these counts,’ she said.

Swift Night Out events are held across the continent. The one in the Green Bay Area is scheduled to take place on Friday, August 14th.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.