Stakeholders gathered Saturday, April 29 for the dedication of the much-anticipated Chimney Swift Tower at McHarg Elementary School designed by T&L’s own Erica Sunshine, AIA.
Erica Sunshine, Director of Architecture of VA/WV, worked closely with bird enthusiasts/donors to design a maintenance free Chimney Swift Tower that coordinates not only with the new school design but provides a learning experience for all. The Tower is equipped with two cameras that capture the Swifts flying overhead and nesting. A QR Code will provide access for the community to follow along on the Tower happenings.
Chimney Swifts have lost 50% of their population, one pair of Swifts will call this Tower home, but it can also be used as a communal roosting site when the birds migrant to Peru, up to 150 pairs may pass through each season. They are best seen just after dinnertime in the evenings and typically fly overhead in a circular pattern.
Prior to this new home for the Chimney Swifts the birds roosted in a chimney that had been in place since the school was built in 1957. When the remodel of the school required that the old chimney, no longer used, be dismantled, it was taken down in late August 2020. Radford lost an important spring and summer nesting site for dozens of Chimney Swifts during this time. Chimney Swifts are beneficial to the city. Each bird eats up to 12,000 mosquitoes, termites, flies, and other insects a day.
Chimney Swift populations are in decline across the country. Radford is fortunate to have one of Virginia’s premier birders and naturalists here in their community, Clyde Kessler. He has been monitoring and recording data on the McHarg swifts since the early 1980s. The chimney swift numbers in the vicinity of McHarg peaked at 209 birds on August 29, 2011. In 2019 the highest count was 74 on September 12.
Others that were instrumental in raising funding for the project and educating the public were Wilson Rankin – Long-time member of Pathways for Radford and steward of Wildwood Park; Bob Sheehy – One of the founding members of Pathways for Radford and Liz Altieri – Liz is also a long-time member of Pathways for Radford, and her aspirations are to teach young children about plants, birds, and nature someday when she retires.
To learn more, please visit the McHarg Renovation page at https://sites.google.com/rcps.org/mcharg-project/home
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Liz Altieri speaks at chimney during dedication.
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Crowd gathers for Chimney Swift Tower dedication.
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Several seen at the tower following the dedication including T&L’s Jack Murphy, AIA and Erica Sunshine, AIA.
