Abstract

Communal roosting, in which individuals gather together at night to spend the resting period together, is common in many species of birds. There are several widely accepted reasons birds roost communally: to conserve heat and energy in non-feeding or extremely cold periods, to share information about where resources are in proximity to the group, and to reduce the effects of predation. Chimney Swifts (Chaetura pelagica) are small aerial insectivorous birds that roost communally at night. Not much is known about the roosting dynamics and what effects weather patterns have on the timing and duration of entry to the Chimney Swift roosts. To get a better understanding of these effects a roost was monitored at the Sherwin Williams Paint store on Merrimon avenue in Asheville, North Carolina. Data on cloud cover, wind speed, temperature, and total number of birds entering the roost was collected from August 30th, 2020 through October 13th, 2020, over 23 survey periods. These were then used to discern what impacts they may have on the time between sunset and first entry as well as the total time it took the flock of Chimney Swifts to enter the roost. In multivariate regressions analysis, temperature and total number of swifts entering the roost had a significant impact on the difference between time of sunset and first entry of swifts into the chimney. Cloud cover and wind speed did not significantly impact the timing between sunset and first entry. This study shows that temperature and total number of swifts affect the timing of Chimney Swift roost entry. None of the climate variables or the total number of birds at the roost explained any variation in the total duration of roost entry.

How to Cite