Swift Night Out: Montgomery area

UPDATE: We made the tough decision to postpone our Swift Night Out scheduled for September 9th due to the strong potential for bad weather. We will try again on September 30th, location TBD. We will meet at 6 p.m. due to the earlier sunset.

UPDATE: The swifts have not fully cooperated in Montgomery; however, we have located an impressive display in Tallassee, around 40 minutes away off of I-85 towards Auburn. We will meet at the Tallassee City Hall (3 Freeman Ave, Tallassee, AL 36078) at 6:30. There should be ample parking in the main parking lot or in the lots of the Tallassee Community Library or the East Tallassee United. We will convene in the field behind the City Hall. You may want to bring a camping chair with you. Check back here if the weather is questionable.

Pre-registration is requested for planning purposes by 9 a.m. CDT on Friday, September 30th.

Swift Night Out is back, and we’re partnering with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to have it in Montgomery! Join us as we enjoy the evening with one of our favorite urban birds, the chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica). All ages and abilities welcome!

After these aerial acrobats have fledged their young and cleared out their nests, the entire North American population makes its way south to winter along the remote headwaters of the Amazon River. On their way there, they congregate in huge roosting flocks with as many as two or three thousand birds sharing a single chimney—numbers that make for a tremendous spectacle when they all pour into the tiny opening at once. Together, we’ll wait for sunset (6:31 p.m.) and watch the swifts work themselves up into their nightly “swiftnado.”

The details: Meetup will be at 6:00 p.m. CDT. Location is TBD depending on where the active roosts are.

Binoculars are handy, but certainly not necessary, for viewing the swifts as they assemble in the skies above the chimney. A camping chair might be nice to have.

If you’re a social media user, tag us @alaudubon (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). We strongly encourage you to share your thoughts and photos with the hashtag #AlabamaSwiftWatch!

In the case of inclement weather, the event may be cancelled. Check back here or on Facebook the day of the event if the weather is questionable.

Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible and open to all.

The trip leader: Mercedes Maddox, Nongame Wildlife Biologist, leads this trip along with Alabama Audubon’s Lianne Koczur. Feel free to email us with questions.

Love swifts? Support our efforts to build chimney swift nesting towers throughout Alabama. For more hands-on action, join our Alabama SwiftWatch program by signing up at alaudubon.org/volunteer.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Through more than seventy-five years of conservation work in one of our nation’s most ecologically rich states, Alabama Audubon has seen firsthand how diversity strengthens natural communities. We believe that the same principle applies to human communities, which is why our organization is committed to providing equitable opportunities for all Alabamians to learn about and enjoy wild birds, their habitats, and the natural world. One of the best ways to support that belief is by valuing and actively seeking to strengthen diversity among our staff, our board, and our membership. To that end, Alabama Audubon welcomes the whole of our community to our work, and strives to make our programs, classes, and events open and accessible to all.