The first Chimney Swifts of 2012 were spotted on the Gulf Coast on March 19th and they’ve been heading in our direction ever since.
Here in Loudoun, they typically arrive by about April 15th and are always heard chittering over our heads as we enjoy the Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival towards the end of the month. We’ve seen some reports of Chimney Swifts in Fredericksburg over the past week, so we should start seeing them any day now in our neck of the woods.
If you enjoy having Chimney Swifts nest in your chimney as some of us do, now is the time to make sure it is clean. Chimney Swifts will start the nest building process as soon as they arrive.
You can see the current map here: http://www.chimneyswifts.org/page44.html
ChimneySwift.org will continue to plot the swifts’ movements northward over the next few months. Please send in your sightings when you see the first ones in your area.
The results will be posted at: www.ChimneySwifts.org