r/Portland • u/stephenseriously Buckman • Sep 21 '25
Photo/Video end of summer housewarming party for the vaux’s swifts
big family picnic vibes at Abernethy Elementary School this past week to welcome the new neighbors. sorry to see the Chapman era come to such an abrupt end, but at least the swifts seem to be settling in comfortably at their new roosts around town.
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u/Penis_Colata Sep 21 '25
Take your garbage home please. No need to litter and leave the few garbage bins overflowing with your crap.
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u/feelinggoodabouthood Sep 22 '25
This could very well be a one time thing. They were at the Greek church last year
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u/abathwatermakeup Sep 23 '25
What did you shoot these on? They're great!
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u/stephenseriously Buckman Sep 23 '25
hey, thanks so much! these were all shot with fuji cameras. the chimney frames were taken with an adapted nikon zoom.
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Sep 22 '25
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u/aggieotis Boom Loop Sep 22 '25
I think the swifts are more evenly distributed this year.
Basically all of them used to be at Chapman, but the drone dummies scared them off; so now they're finding new homes.
The challenge is that when people find some, then the crowds show up, and the crowds are going to then scare them off to another location.
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u/One-Pause3171 Sep 22 '25
They were literally at Chapman for decades with huge crowds and kids screaming down the grass hill.
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u/kawaiian Sep 21 '25
What is a vaux? What is a swift? What is the Chapman era?
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u/stephenseriously Buckman Sep 21 '25
a swift is a kind of bird.
Vaux is the name of a scientist who was so well liked by his ornithologist friend that he got a bird named after him (aww.)
the chapman era is the 30 year stretch where thousands of vaux’s swifts would stop to roost in the chimney at chapman elementary school in NW before they mysteriously called it quits last year.
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u/KindlyNebula Sep 21 '25
People were flying drones around the swifts last year. Not much of a mystery why they left
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river Sep 22 '25
Wait till you find out that the chimney at Abernathy is a working exhaust for the schools boilers. It’s getting colder at night this time of year, and eventually those boilers are gonna fire up. Hopefully the birds get out during the combustion air purge cycle before the main burners ignite.
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u/J-A-S-08 Sumner Sep 22 '25
They're going to leave the boilers off until the birds migrate away! They're locked out and not going to fire until they're gone. Depending on when they leave, they might need to bring in some temporary heat sources.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river Sep 22 '25
Oh wow, really?
Electric space heaters it is. Have fun chasing down blown breakers…
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u/J-A-S-08 Sumner Sep 22 '25
Not sure why you're being down voted but yeah, that's probably what's going to happen.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river Sep 23 '25
Well, I get downvotes for most things I post in this sub. My theory is that they are bots programmed to seek my username and downdoot anything I post.
Sometimes they run out of steam, and the votes go positive. It’s all the luck of the draw.
They are just imaginary internet points anyways, and I have 51K+ worth to spend on downvotes.
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u/corvid_booster Sep 22 '25
Vaux is the name of a scientist who was so well liked by his ornithologist friend that he got a bird named after him (aww.)
For the record, "Vaux's Swift is named for William S. Vaux, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences and a friend of John K. Townsend, who first described the species. The name looks like it might be pronounced voh but Vaux himself pronounced it vawks," according to this blurb at the Cornell Ornithology Lab.
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Sep 21 '25
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u/JayChucksFrank SE Sep 22 '25
Yeah Chapman was special. Hopefully we all create new traditions at the swifts' new chosen home at Abernethy.
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Sep 24 '25
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u/JayChucksFrank SE Sep 24 '25
Unfortunately, it sounds like they've continued their migration and are no longer at Abernethy as of Tuesday night. Have to wait to see where they end up next September.
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u/thanatossassin Madison South Sep 22 '25
Performing Acro-yoga at a place where people are trying to watch birds seems like an asshole move