Tried again tonight, joining about half a dozen other diehard watchers. In the space of just under an hour, we saw two swifts darting about and circling. One finally appeared to dive into the chimney. The other was not seen again. We went home. Will mark our calendars to revisit the scene in September 2017.
P.S. This is an example of what was supposed to happen, what we were trying to see (this from September 2013 in Portland):
This afternoon I slipped down to Max Square as rumor had it that hordes of migrating swifts would be plunging into a local chimney on the five-floor Foley Building downtown. At 4pm, I saw about fifty birds circling the rooftops for a few seconds, then they disappeared. Charlie and Kim joined me an hour or so later, and by that time, a fairly large crowd was assembling. Matt Cooper (classical and jazz pianist extraordinaire), in a show of versatility and sensitivity to local tastes, provided entertainment with the help of his bluegrass band. Food vendors were on hand. And lots of people with dogs.
Earlier I had chatted with a gentleman who pointed out the chimney to watch (he turned out to be mistaken, and I missed much of the main event) and tried to make me believe that between 10,000 and 40,000 swyfts were expected. I ended up seeing no more than 40 – 50 at a time, and except for the early sighting, those didn’t appear until about 7pm, some two hours after the predicted and advertised time. Nevertheless, we did a good deal of people and dog watching, took in the sunset and were able to connect with Nik for a few minutes around 7:30pm after he came off his work shift. We intend to try again tomorrow night, but with proper placement at a vantage point that will allow for a more generous viewing than tonight’s.
You may contest this statement, but several photos below, particularly of the chimney views, do include up to 20 or 30 birds each in the distance. You may have some difficulty picking them out — what we have here is a Failure to Photograph. But there is tomorrow night …
