By Dakota Altman
Like the Eye of Sauron in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels watching over Middle-earth, a new tower has emerged from the urban prairie outside Hardin Hall awaiting its true calling. This tower does not hold the power to summon hoards of orcs; it is instead the harbinger of a beautiful and fascinating migratory bird.
Chimney swifts as their name might suggest have an important affinity to brick or stone house chimneys, yet this was not always the case. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Chimney swifts roosted and nested in woodlands before the advent of chimneys. Through the decline of important woodland habitats and the construction of cities and townships with abundant vertical-hollow structures (i.e. chimneys), the formerly known American swift quickly adapted and its name followed suit.
So aptly named for the bird it hosts, the tower is known as a “Chimney Swift Tower”. These towers have taken on many different shapes and sizes, generally resembling a tall chimney-like structure with a rough surface on the inside for the swifts to grip onto and an opening at the top where they will enter during roosting and exit for on-the-wing feeding.
Beginning around mid to late April here in Nebraska the sweet chittering heard high above in the spring clouds signals the swift's arrival, easily recognizable by their cigar-shaped bodies and boomerang wings searching for flying insects. Chimney swifts migrate thousands of miles from wintering grounds in the upper reaches of the Amazon River basin in eastern Peru, through northwestern Brazil, and down into northern Chile.
Please mark your calendars for Saturday, May 11,2024 at 10am for a short dedication/celebration to mark the installation of the chimney swift tower in Hardin Hall’s prairie. The tower was donated by Bluebirds Across Nebraska and our friends at Wild Bird Habitat Store in Lincoln. Our partners will be providing coffee and snacks, and the Maps and More Store will be open during the celebration.
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