Chimney Swifts in Connecticut
A work in progress.....
The Chimney Swift Project is a joint venture between the Uconn Ornithology Lab and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP). The Chimney Swift is...
- Develop and initiate an effective monitoring program that can be replicated by the CTDEP and other state agencies throughout the region.
- Develop and test the effectiveness of a newly designed artificial nesting structure.
Biology and Conservation Status
The Chimney Swift (Chateura pelagica)...
Artificial Nesting Structures
One of the main goals of this project is to design and deploy artificial chimney swift "towers". Several organizations have published tower designs that have been demonstrated to successfully attract breeding swifts, but none of these designs have been empirically tested. Although these tower designs have been successful, they can be expensive, labor intensive, and require building skills to constuct.
We intend to develop and test a tower design that is: relatively inexpensive, easy to construct, moveable, and composed of materials that are easy to obtain. A design that incorporated each of these traits is much more likely to be constructed and deployed by state agencies, conservation organizations, and private landowners.
Monitoring
The CTDEP has been...
Public Education
There is great opportunity for public education throughout the duration of this project, and long into the future if the towers become a permanent fixture in the landscape.
A work in progress...
