Down the Chimney

I spent the day on a wildflower hike in the Columbia Gorge with the Chemeketans.  It brought back many wonderful memories; I got in a good hike, took some wildflower photos, and all in all had a great day.  But on my way home, just before crossing the Marion Street Bridge, I got the biggest surprise of the day when Jeanette noticed a huge number of birds circling over the First Baptist Church. We recognized right away that they were Swifts preparing to enter the chimney for the night.  Jeanette stopped at the curb, I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the car and started taking photos.  It was hard to catch the exact micro-second they entered the chimney, and of the 30 photos I snapped off this was the best one.  My best guess is that there were 100 of these Vaux’s Swifts that went down the chimney in just a couple of minute’s time and then it was over.  The camera took the photos at 4:26 PM