Swifts

A very strange and unique thing that I got to experience for the very first time actually has nothing to do with the city itself, its people, culture, or anything else. It is all about a chimney in a school in NW Portland that for some reason is distinct. Each year in September, thousands of little tiny fast birds, called swifts nest in this chimney in their migratory trip south. The fascinating part of it is not so much that they nest there but that they swirl around and spiral into the chimney for quite some time and fly like a big cloud into the chimney as the sun sets. People set up camp on the field and around the school, the kids and parents at the school sell tshirts, popcorn and snacks, and it is really an entire event. I took lots of photos, including of the kids sledding down the hill on cardboard boxes or skateboards, but those will be for another day. Today, I will share one of the birds themselves. This is the moment that probably a few thousand of them flew around and into the chimney. It was a good opportunity to set up the tripod and try some low light shooting. It really did turn out pretty well.

Joe