David P. Craig watched thousands of Vaux’s swifts spiral into a “swift’nado” above a Salem, Oregon church last Sunday.
Craig, a professor at Willamette University, stood shoulder to shoulder with neighbors, families and students as dusk fell over Salem First United Methodist Church. The gathering crowd kept their phones down and necks craned toward the brick chimney where more than 4,000 of the tiny birds would soon vanish for the night.
“A swift’nado is spinning at Salem First United Methodist Church, and scores of neighbors, families, and students have gathered shoulder to shoulder at dusk, phones down, necks craned, watching 4,000+ Vaux’s Swifts pour into a brick chimney like smoke running in reverse,” he wrote on Instagram.
Craig noted that his students were busy counting the birds and explaining to visitors why the chimney matters so much to the species. The swifts, barely five inches long and weighing just over half an ounce, have developed a remarkable survival strategy that now depends on human structures.
The birds sleep by clinging vertically to rough, unlined brick-and-mortar walls with their sharp toes. They evolved to roost in enormous hollow old-growth trees, but as those forests disappeared, old chimneys became crucial substitutes for the species.
This particular chimney has become one of the regular Oregon spectacles during fall migration season. The birds pass through from late August to early October, with September serving as the peak month for these eerie evening gatherings.
The visual impact of thousands of birds twisting into what looks like a churning black cloud before plunging down a church chimney was enough to spark apocalyptic comparisons online. “I recognize the end of the days when I see it,” one Reddit user declared. Another viewer drew on horror movie knowledge to assess the situation: “I’ve watched enough movies to know the protagonists have to get in there immediately or we’re all doomed.”
The Salem church spectacle carries extra weight because of what happened just north in Portland. For more than 40 years, thousands of swifts descended on Chapman Elementary School every September, sometimes packing as many as 15,000 birds inside that chimney. Then in 2024, they abruptly abandoned the famous roost entirely.
Experts say the birds have not disappeared from the region. Instead, they appear to have scattered among other chimneys around the Portland metropolitan area, including Oregon City. The relocation has left bird watchers and conservationists tracking where the massive flocks will establish their new primary roosts.
The Salem gathering this September suggests at least some portion of the displaced Portland population may have found their way south to the church chimney. Craig’s documentation of the event helps establish a baseline count as observers monitor whether the Salem roost grows in coming years.
The birds’ dependence on aging brick chimneys creates ongoing conservation concerns. As old structures are demolished or lined with modern materials unsuitable for swift roosting, the species faces a gradual loss of critical habitat. Each remaining functional chimney becomes disproportionately important to the migratory population passing through the Pacific Northwest.
The Vaux’s swift fall migration will continue through early October before the birds move on to their wintering grounds.