A small but dedicated group of birdwatchers pulled up chairs to the old Barrie jail on Tuesday for the return of the Chimney Swift. Every year around this time the swifts’ fall migration brings them back to Barrie, almost exclusively to the chimney at the old prison. According to observers, an estimated 200 birds come to roost for the night during the fall season. “Sometimes the birds just come out of nowhere, sometimes you see them swirling overhead, kind of flying around the chimney, getting lower and lower,” said Ileen Sabean with Nature Barrie. “They make a little chittering sound, sometimes they just come like a bolt out of the blue, head straight for the chimney, going up without making a sound,” Sabean told CTV News. Sabean and others like her are not just watching for the spectacle. Nature Barrie is collecting data on times, number of birds, weather and predators, to share with Birds Canada to help track the endangered species.
