[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ird watchers going to Charro Ranch Park can thank a Dripping Springs 15-year-old for its new feature.
Boy Scout Connor Stevens with Troop 585 took on the task of building a chimney swift tower for his Eagle Scout project. As the name implies, the tower serves as a home for chimney swift birds.
“Realizing how much their habitat has been impacted over the last hundred years, I really felt that the chimney swift tower would be the perfect project for me,” Stevens said.
The tower is approximately 18” by 18” and stands 15’ tall. It’s a sturdy structure, weighing more than 500 pounds and wrapped in hardie siding, a type of cement board. Stevens said he was able to build the tower with high quality materials thanks to generous contributors.
“This is a tremendous gift to the city and something Charro Ranch Park visitors can enjoy for years to come,” Mayor Pro-Tem Bill Foulds said. “We are most appreciative of Connor’s efforts.”
A plaque has been installed near the tower to educate visitors about the chimney swift species.
“The chimney swift (Chaetura Pelagica) is a bird in the Swift family that usually makes its home in a chimney. Since many chimneys are capped off or torn down, chimney swifts have had to make their homes and in air shafts, wells, cisterns, etc. Hollow trees were their original homes before they began nesting in chimneys. Chimney swifts are not considered endangered, but their population is decreasing, and have the conservation status of “Near Threatened,” the plaque reads
Chimney swifts can only stand and create nests on vertical surfaces, so many chimney swifts towers are designed with grooves on the inside just as a chimney would have. They build their nests using twigs and saliva. Chimney swifts migrate to the northern portion of South America in the winter, but can be found in Texas in the spring. They generally arrive here at the beginning of April. Only one brood usually lives in each chimney swift tower during nesting season despite the height of the tower. The towers are made very tall (this one is about 15 feet tall) to avoid overheating problems which affects their breeding. A nest with five nestlings can eat about 12,000 insects in one day. They love mosquitos, termites, and beetles.
During roosting season and during migration up to about 100 chimney swifts can occupy one tower. When large colonies of chimney swifts are preparing to roost at night they can create a flying funnel above the tower.
