Vaux’s swifts are fast-flying insect eaters. This time of year they are migrating to warmer places in the Western Hemisphere where there’ll be insects flying about in January. They catch all their food on the wing. Swifts will cruise over a lake for insects or slurping up a drink, but they also may fly quite high.

Vaux’s swifts nest along the Pacific Coast up to the northern edge of British Columbia. That’s at latitude 60 degrees north. Salem is at latitude 45. They nest as far south as the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. This species nests in the right habitat over much of Oregon. That usually means large conifers, and they will also use chimneys. Marion County has nesting swifts, and has always been on the Vaux’s swifts’ migration route. In recent history numerous places in S

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