Today is World Swift Day, and Longfellow-Evangeline State Park is celebrating Chimney Swifts.
Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site Interpretive Ranger Jolene Adam is hoping visitors catch these birds chirping and circling around dusk.
She said the species migrate to the Amazon Basin in Peru in November, and return for spring.
They also consume thousands of insects, particularly mosquitoes and termites.
But their numbers are declining as homes evolve.
"They live in chimneys, and there are fewer and fewer chimneys as time goes by,” Adam said.
“So, they're losing habitat. To help the Chimney Swifts, we have erected some chimney-like structures here for them to nest in. We have three Chimney Swift towers here at the site. The towers are being monitored and periodically someone comes and examines the towers. So we do know that at the end of last summer there were nests.”
Adam encourages you to build a structure for roosting and nesting, or allow Chimney Swifts in your chimney.
The event will be held at the park from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
