Tonight my bluebird friend Paula Ziebarth and I were monitoring nestboxes and banding bluebirds in Powell. We were at a pond watching a big carp with his fin out of the water when we heard a familiar chittering and into view came a Chimney Swift. We watched as it dipped to the surface of the water for a quick drink. We quickly decided we had enough time to get to Sells Middle School in Dublin, Ohio 43017. Sells is on 161 and east of Frantz Rd and west of Dublin Rd and on the north side of 161. We watch the swifts from the back of the 1919 building and park in between the tennis courts and the back of the building. We arrived about 8:45 and about 25 or so swifts were flying over the building. This location is a favorite place for staging Chimney Swifts in August and September and into early October. I discovered the staging site about 14 years ago and I have enjoyed making others aware of these amazing creatures and their important use of tall chimney stacks close to dusk. The birds gather from all different directions and fly in a clockwise flight getting tighter and tighter in their circle then start to enter the chimney for the night. We say it looks like they are being sucked into the chimney or it looks like reverse chimney smoke. We were not disappointed tonight. At 8:54pmEDT the first swift entered the chimney. By 9:09 we had counted over 915 birds entering the chimney for their evening roost. I count and enter data in www.chimneyswift.org and this weekend Aug 7, 8, 9 is Swift Night Out. They want you to watch near dusk for the sound of the swifts twittering and chittering and flying around a chimney before they begin to enter when the light is low enough. Then, as best as you can, count them as they enter the chimney and note the start and end time. On Sept 11, 12, 13 they have a second Swift Night Out. For both monthly counts, I will visit Sells Middle School. I check the sunrise sunset website and I try to go at least 30 minutes or more before sunset and watch the birds come in from all directions. If it is a cloudy and overcast night, the birds will start sooner. About 8 or 9 years ago, the peek counts at Sells Middle School were over 5000 birds entering the chimney. Visit www.ColumbusAudubon.org under the conservation tab and click on Chimney Swifts to read up on the swifts history and behavior in our area. This YouTube Video www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RNN-UvvLyQ will give you a sense of the show you will see. Take some time and look for sites in your neighborhood in old school or business chimneys'. Take time to report your findings and get others excited to watch the swifts. Take it a step further and get involved in a swift tower conservation project. Several are going up in the central Ohio area. You should be hearing about them soon. On Sept 11 we will have a swift count hosted by Wild Birds Unlimited in Westerville. Their location will be announced through the store a night or two before Sept 11. And on Sept 12 the Sawmill Rd Wild Birds Unlimited will host a program at Sells Middle School. I will attend both programs and help answer questions and give a brief program. Bring your lawn chair and you and the mosquitos will enjoy the free show. Darlene Sillick Powell, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]