Last night I made an unexpected stop at Sells Middle School in Dublin along 161 just west of Dublin Rd. I was not disappointed. It was about 9:02pm and I pulled in behind the school near the tennis courts and the sound of swifts 'twittering' filled the area. By about 9:23pm all was quiet but in about 20 minutes I would estimate that 200 to 250 Chimney Swifts came swirling clockwise from all directions and entered the large school chimney. To the east between the Scioto River and the elementary building just east of Sells a pair of Common Nighthawks were putting on quite a show flying, climbing sharply, calling and doing their booming dives. With the dark swirling clouds and lightening flashing in the distance it was a show only rivaled by the fireworks last weekend. The Chimney Swifts can be observed before dusk until early October with numbers changing almost nightly. The parking lot directly behind the school is being repaved so go slowly and pull in back by the tennis courts. I was on my way back from visiting Smith and Bigelow Prairie Cemeteries, both state nature preserves west of Plain City Ohio and south of 161. The Royal Catchfly and other plants and prairie grasses were a delight to revisit. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/dnap/location/bigelow_prairie/tabid/921/Default.a spx http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/dnap/location/smith_cemetery/tabid/964/Default.as px http://hiramtom.blogspot.com/2009/07/bigelow-cemetery-smith-cemetary-two-of. html The Ohio Nature Blog by Tom Arbour has a nice recap of the two remnant prairies and his visit. I joined the Madison Master Gardner's last night as Ron Demmy, retired nature preserve manager, was giving a wonderful historic tour of the area. Start watching the large industrial chimneys around town for a wonderful show beginning near dusk. http://www.chimneyswifts.org/page2.html Visit the Driftwood Wildlife Association to learn more about what happens during nesting and migration of these birds as they prepare to head for South America. Darlene Sillick Powell, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]