SwiftWatch : About the Program

A continent-wide network of conservation-minded citizens working together to improve our understanding of swift migration.

Each year, millions of chimney swifts migrate from their breeding grounds in eastern North America to the Amazon Basin where they spend the winter months. Such long-distance movements are very demanding and require birds to stop en route periodically to replenish energy reserves. Stopover areas represent links in a long chain of locations connecting breeding and winter grounds. In a very real sense, the availability and quality of these areas determines whether or not individuals will successfully complete migration. For this reason, the importance of identifying and protecting stopover areas has been recognized by conservation organizations throughout the world.

During migration, chimney swifts spend the night in communal roosts. Individual roost structures may host several thousand individuals at the same time or tens of thousands during the entire migration period. Roost structures may be used by migrant swifts each year for decades. Because so many individuals congregate in relatively few locations, the systematic loss of historic roost structures may lead to consequences on a population level. Currently, information needed to develop conservation strategies for the protection of swift stopover areas is lacking. SwiftWatch is a citizen-based program designed to collect and compile information on the location of stopover areas used by swifts during migration. The ultimate goal of this program is to further the conservation of swifts by achieving a better understanding of their migration ecology.