Chimney Swift nestbox - Ferris Provincial Park, Campbellford, Ontario - Unique Bird Houses on Waymarking.com

A Chimney Swift nestbox at the western edge of Ferris Provincial Park, Campbellford.

"The chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica) is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both the Vaux's swift and the Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching, and can only cling vertically to surfaces.

The chimney swift feeds primarily on flying insects, but also on airborne spiders. It generally mates for life. It builds a bracket nest of twigs and saliva stuck to a vertical surface, which is almost always a human-built structure, typically a chimney. The female lays 4–5 white eggs. The altricial young hatch after 19 days and fledge a month later. The average chimney swift lives 4.6 years."

SOURCE - (visit link)

An interpretation board nearby explains:

The Chimney Swift has experienced a rapid decline
in numbers in the last decade. Part of this decline
is due to a lack of nesting locations. At one time
they nested in large hollow trees, which for the
most part disappeared from the landscape during
European colonization. They survived by adapting
to nest in the large industrial chimneys of the 19th
century. Now most of those chimneys are also
gone, and so are many of the swifts.

In November 2009, The Friends of Ferris erected
this simulated hollow tree, provided by the
Wildlife Research & Development Section
of the MNR, as a roosting and nesting
site for the Chimney Swifts of the
Campbellford area. It is hoped that
this and other artificial Structures
being erected throughout North
America by concerned citizens will
Provide the nesting sites needed to
keep the Chimney Swift flying in our
Skies for years to come.

Is this a functional box ?: Yes Is this birdhouse for display only?: No Is this box occupied?: I don't know Species: Chimney Swift

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