Lexington, KY - When your dog or cat starts sitting by the fireplace in springtime howling, Brion Barnhill has a pretty good idea what’s going on.
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“That’s usually one of the calls we get, ‘My cat is going crazy at the chimney.’ And we know there’s another species on the other side of that [wall],” said Barnhill, owner of Barnhill Chimney Company in Lexington.
Chimney swifts are a common visitor to flues this time of year as the birds look for a place to nest.
“They’re one of the only birds I know of that can fly into and out of a chimney,” he said. “Anything else we find in there is usually trapped or dead.”
Chimney swifts are particularly fond of settling in the central Kentucky area, according to Barnhill. Swifts spend the winter on the western coast of South America and move north for the breeding season, often traveling and roosting in large groups.
Commonly described as “flying cigars,” the birds have long, cylindrical bodies with curved wings that enable them to fly vertically. This unique ability originally helped them nest in hollow trees, which have given way to chimneys.
Barnhill says his customers often mistake the birds for bats, which can sometimes send them into a bit of a panic.
Swifts’ nests are about the size of a fist, and are comprised of small, woven twigs attached to the inside of the chimney with saliva. A nest may be home to anywhere from one to five eggs, which are cared for by both the male and female birds, who eat about a third of their weight in insects each day.
Barnhill says his clients are surprised to learn that once a chimney swift has nested in a their chimney, he is forbidden by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to remove the bird and its offspring. The act was first instituted in 1916 to prevent the capture or harm of any bird, nest or egg of the 800 protected species. When Barnhill gets a call about swifts, he comes out to assess the age of the baby birds, if there are any yet, and will come back to clean out the nest once the swifts have left the nest. Baby swifts usually stay in the nest about two weeks, so typically by the time homeowners hear them, they don’t have long to wait for the birds to leave.
Barnhill stresses that clients should not try to remove or chase out the birds on their own by starting a fire or closing the damper to trap them in.
“Even if you didn’t have any qualms about killing them, and you didn’t get caught doing it, they can get really smelly if they get trapped in areas of your chimney you can’t reach while they’re decomposing,” he said.
Barnhill says the swifts are not typically territorial or aggressive birds and very rarely come down the chimney into the house. If they do, they will find their way out if provided an open door or window. Homeowners do need to be cautious of debris that may fall from the nest, as, though rare, droppings may carry diseases. He recommends keeping children and pets away from the fireplace.
Barnhill reports his most memorable experience with chimney swifts came while he was an apprentice on one of his first calls at a large house in Atlanta. He opened the damper without rattling it first –– “a rookie mistake,” he says –– and several fledgling swifts spooked and fled down the flue into the house.
“Their fitful and frightened escape, I suppose, was only matched by my customer’s fitful and frightened escape,” Barnhill chuckled. “From there on out, I never forgot to rattle the damper to make sure there weren’t any critters in the chimney flue.”
After young birds have left and the nest has been cleaned out, Barnhill advises closing the damper to keep swifts and other unwanted guests out. If there is any concern about fortifying the flue, residents should call a professional to install a chimney cap rather than try to build a structure themselves, which may be flammable or hamper ventilation in the flue.
Since chimney swifts are fond of flying insects (a family with three or four young birds can eat up to 15,000 bugs a day), many people encourage them to nest…in the yard. Plans are available online for building swift houses that will invite the birds to stick around and reduce your yard’s mosquito population.