You have to see it to believe it

Yesterday my neighbors stopped by to say, "The swifts are circling.  It's not time yet.  But we'll be back tomorrow!"  Now, this sort of thing doesn't happen very often--even in Oregon--so we were a little curious.  After a long walk with Potter and an early dinner we waited by the window for the return of our neighbors.  When they arrived we walked to the ice cream parlor two blocks away, circled around to the empty lot behind the store, and watched a swarm of swifts fly over head. This is a picture of our neighbors: Bob, Ginger, and their grandson James (in case you hadn't noticed, James is wearing most of his ice cream cone on his face):

 It took about half an hour of circling, flocking, waving, and swaying:

In time, when they were ready, the swifts ushered themselves gracefully into the chimney of an old school.  It was really kind of amazing-- like something out of a scene from Harry Potter or a Hitchcock movie.  The birds just showed up, seemingly out of nowhere, danced in the sky while calling out to their friends to join them.  Without an angry fist, a collision, or a gesture of jealousy they escorted themselves into a funnel and then into the opening of the chimney.  I thought about train stations and airports where we humans need ropes and signs to keep us in an orderly line to wait our turn for a cab. The birds seemed to have an internal sense of order, or maybe they were just a lot more mature than humans.

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This ritual is part of their migration pattern.  Every fall, once the band starts practicing at the U of O, the birds show up for about three weeks.  They make a nightly ritual of circling and then settling down in the chimney to rest for the evening. They stay until they're ready to move on to the next place on their journey south.  

Dave did an amazing job of taking these pictures. It wasn't easy to capture the moving birds on a still camera--especially once the sun set.  If you want to see this process with moving images (by a far less accomplished photographer) check out this video:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xVhDuleP6o
(you might have to copy and paste the above link into your browser)

The other very important part of this ritual is that after the community watches this spectacle, we walk to the other side of the ice cream shop to indulge in splendors of another kind.  Tonight they had my favorite: chocolate chip.  James got another chocolate cone, most of which--in the spirit of great rituals--ended up on his face.