I've been told that Black Swifts are the most mysterious birds in Glacier!
Donations to the Glacier National Park Conservancy and Montana Audubon are helping us to better understand these little birds. They have been recorded traveling over 4,000 miles to their winter homes in Brazil and then return to North America in the late spring to nest in shady, sheltered spots--typically behind waterfalls. And I thought my commute to Logan Pass was long!
Since it's not safe for dogs to be on trails in the park, I'm going to have to take one Citizen Scientist's word for it when she described her experience looking for Black Swift nests to help get an accurate count of the population in the park. That's her, in the image up above!
“The sound of water rushing fills my ears. I lay on my back in the grass staring up at the sky. The ground growls from the waterfall to my left. I squint as a black flash crosses the sky. Could it be a black swift? My eyes try to follow it toward the cave as I sit up. ‘BIRD IN’ I yell, hoping one of my partners will be able to spot it entering the surveyed spot we’ve been watching all day.”
I wish I could help spot these birds!
Why are they so hard to see? Believe it or not, they can remain in flight for up to 10 months at a time (and I thought I had a lot of energy!)
They're also very small and black, and hide from sight by nesting in small crevices around waterfalls. Since they nest very late in the summer, researchers are finding that waterfalls that used to flow year-round are slowing to a trickle, reducing some of their habitat.
So finding and counting them when they return to Glacier each year is an important part of understanding this species.
