Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Chimney Swift (Taylor’s Version)

Out of the Woods and into your chimneys

Each patient we treat helps us learn how to be better neighbors to native wildlife—and this week’s guests are already flying up the charts. As is the case for most of the chimney swifts we received, these three nestlings fell and were unable to be renested due to the structure of the chimney.

This species doesn’t perch on branches like most songbirds. Instead, they cling vertically inside chimneys or hollow trees, where they build Delicate nests out of twigs and saliva.

Pictured: Chimney Swift patients from last year

Because swifts have a big reputation for ending up in fireplaces when those fragile nest break, we often get calls about babies who’ve fallen to the hearth below.

Luckily, renesting swifts never goes out of Style, and over 75% of renested swifts are successfully reunited with their parents. Especially with creative solutions like attaching a wicker basket to a chimney brush or lowering a new man-made nest from the top.

Once the babies are old enough to open their eyes and grow feathers, they’re excellent climbers and can often rejoin the nest on their own!

Use this renesting diagram from our friends at the Wildlife Center of Virginia to better visualize these techniques.

Chimney swifts require specialized care—and a strategic release because when they’re ready to fly, they must be released with a colony of other swifts so they can migrate together.

If you find a bird in your fireplace or hear one fluttering at the base of your chimney, don’t just Shake It Off— Speak Now and bring them to a rehabilitator! If they’re allowing you to handle them, it’s a red flag that something’s wrong.

Keep your eyes on the sky at dusk this week—you might spot a squad of flying cigars swooping around in circles. And if you hear Taylor Swift coming from your teenager’s bedroom and chattering from the fireplace, you’ve definitely got two kinds of swifts in the house.

Looking for an easy way to help native wildlife? Become a monthly BRWC donor! For as little as $5/month, you can provide year-round, sustainable support that helps us fulfill our mission.