Houston Audobon: Swift Counts

Title: Houston Audobon: Swift Counts
Location: Various
Link out: Click here
Description: Houston Swift Counts

Join Us to Count! Pam Smolen ( pjsmolen@att.net ) leads Tuesday evening counts at Pershing Middle School. Mary Anne Weber ( maweber@houstonaudubon.org ) leads Tuesday evening counts at Lakeview Elementary. We currently meet at 8:10 PM.

Count Locations:

Lakeview Elementary Chimmey Swifts

Whole Foods Market in Bellaire: 4004 Bellaire Blvd.

Pershing Middle School in Bellaire: 3838 Blue Bonnet Blvd.

Russ Pittman Park, Nature Discovery Center in Bellaire: 7112 Newcastle

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Main St. and Binz, across from the Museum of Fine Arts. St. Paul’s invites the public to watch the Chimney Swifts any time between late March and early November as they descend into the chimney near the Fannin Street Courtyard.

Lakeview Elementary School in Sugar Land. The school is located at 314 Lakeview Drive, Sugar Land, 77498.

Sutton Elementary School, in Bellaire on 7402 Albacore Drive, Houston, 77074

Tips on Counting Swifts by Paul and Georgean Kyle: When counting Chimney Swifts at roosts, the numbers can become overwhelming — especially as the numbers continue to climb as we move toward fall migration over the next few weeks. What we have found to work quite well is to use an athletic lap counter. These are available at most sporting goods stores. You can tally without taking your eyes off of the swifts.

When the numbers of swifts are relatively low, a direct count can be made — one click per swift. At sites where the numbers exceed several hundred (or the entry rate is high), make one click per 10 swifts and multiply the end number of clicks by 10 for the total. It works really well if several counters can average their counts at the end.
Start Time: 20:10
Date: 2011-06-21