An annual fall event at one particular spot in a busy part of Springfield has been happening for years – largely unnoticed by passersby. Hundreds of chimney swifts descend into the columns that mark the entrance to the Columns Apartments on E. Sunshine to spend the night.
And an event Saturday night, September 14, at 7:30 will gather people together to watch.
Swifts and Sundaes is hosted by the Greater Ozarks Audubon Society and is just one public field trip the organization offers.
Ann Liles is hosting the event with her husband, Dan. They’re both avid birders and have watched the swifts at Columns for more than a decade.
She said, as the sky begins to darken, the swifts will start to come in, "lots of them, and they'll fly over and circle and chatter, and then they make runs at the tops of these columns," she said, "and you'll think, 'oop, that one went in. No, it didn't — went on by,' and they circle and they dive down at it."
That can last a half hour or so, she said. And then the birds begin to enter the columns.
"It's really interesting to watch them drop because they tumble as they go down into it," she said, and you think, 'my goodness, how can you do it and it not be injured as you go in?' But it's just one of their adaptations that makes them fun to watch."
One column many not get any swifts, according to Liles, some just a few, and one might get hundreds.
Anyone can attend the event. All you need is a lawn chair and maybe some binoculars and a jacket. Park in the TelComm Credit Union parking lot, 2155 E. Sunshine.
After the swifts have all entered the columns, anyone who wants to go will then head down the street for frozen custard (on your own dime).
