Dancing in September

September 08, 2020 13:00

 
The words of Portland’s own Ursula K Le Guin describe the month of September in Portland the best
"Gold of amber
Red of ember
Brown of umber
All September" 
September in Portland is like Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds, only the birds are not here to attack but to do their roosting dance.
From September 1st to the 30th Portland is visited by migratory birds named Vaux' swifts. They are about five inches long, with stiff beaks and grey brown coats and the body shaped like a cigar. These birds are different from other migratory birds is how they sleep at night as after flying all day they roost all night altogether in one space and because of the size of their flock nests would not do so they look for large cavities of old trees. After the logging in the past century when that became rarer is when these birds discovered chimneys and made it their roosting homes. They have Velcro like feet so they can easily cling to the walls of the chimneys.
In the year 2009 The Audubon Society made this an official community event so now every year hundreds of people gather in the football field of Chapman School in the month of September to watch this largest known roosting sights of these swifts. The roosting dance begins at dusk and actually looks like tailgating where one bird is followed by a thousand others descending into the chimney finally. The entire event lasts for about two hours and is easily one of the most well attended community events in Portland. Just one more perk of living in Beautiful Portland. This year you can watch this event live on The Audubon Society of Portland’s Facebook page on September 15th at 7:15 PM Pacific time.
September is also called the barley month which means beer to most Portlanders and during the entire fall Portland hosts a number of beer fests which also happens to attract beer lovers from all over the country.
From birds to beer Portland had got it all, see you on one of your warm September adventures and for all your roosting needs contact Brian Porter Real Estate https://www.brianporter.com/

Here is a link to see the Vaux Swifts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-YaEWNex2U

Simmi Malhotra