A visit to the Vaux's Swifts roost at Rio Lindo Academy in Healdsburg is becoming an annual Fall observance for Sonoma County birders. At the height of the evening, a whirling vortex of thousands of the tiny birds descend into their chimney for the night.

This year the swifts arrived later than usual and there have been reports of between 5,000 and 6,000. These numbers are, of course, subject to change.

Past years have seen a range from a few thousand to over 15,000 swifts.

Vaux Swifts are tiny birds, but they fill the sky in huge numbers when they come to roost at the chimney on the Rio Lindo Academy campus (3200 Rio Linda Ave., Healdsburg) during their fall migration in mid to late September.

Directions: From Highway 101, exit at Old Redwood Highway/Healdsburg Avenue, south of the central Healdsburg exit. Go north to Bailhache Avenue, turn right on Bailhache, which becomes Rio Lindo Avenue, and follow it about 3 miles into the Academy's main entrance.

Take a left at the first stop sign, and another left just before the dormitory. In half a block, turn right toward the rear of the campus. The chimney is on a side street west of the athletic field.

Visitors to the roost are guests of the Academy, a residential preparatory school operated by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Please be respectful and remember drinking of alcohol on school property is strictly prohibited. Observers are encouraged to car pool, to park quietly at least a block from the chimney, and to observe from the opposite side of the facing street.

Go to this Mapquest Map

Identification Tips:

> Length: 4.5 inches

> Sexes similar

> Juvenile similar to adult

>Small aerial bird with cigar-shaped body and crescent-shaped wings

>Short tail bluntly squared off Plumage sooty gray above with paler rump

>Whitish throat darkening to sooty gray on belly

>Underwings pale gray

 Similar species:

All swallows have longer tails, usually with a notch or fork, and broader wings. Black and White-throated Swifts have forked tails and different patterning below. Chimney Swift is extremely similar but is larger, with longer wings, a darker rump and throat, and a different call.

Author:
Marshall Iliff
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., and Zim, H. (1983). Birds of North America New York: Golden Press

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