CHIMNEY SWIFT'S

This is the chimney on
Northville's Second St. where the Chimney Swift's dwell. The only remains of the Hubbell Glove Company is behind the chimney.

The picture below shows the birds diving into the chimney at dusk. There are fewer birds that come now, but at one time there would be as many as 400+. What a sight it is to observe.




Many people from all over the area , as far away as Albany and Schenectady and Amsterdam, come each year to observe the birds arrival. Each night during the summer months of May thru August there will be numerous cars parked and people standing watching them dive into the chimney.




For more information about these birds go to :

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Chimney_Swift.html

The man in the picture to the right is Don Williams a local historian, author and storyteller.
He was also the MC for the evening, retelling the story of the birds.

Every year on May 6th the Swift's arrive in our town and stay until mid August. The rest of the year they live in Peru, a 6,000 mile trip to Northville. A very interesting fact is that they arrive on the birthday of the man that owned/had the chimney built. Each day at dusk they circle the chimney and a then all together they descend into the chimney like a funnel. They cling to the inside of the chimney where they spend the night. These birds feed on insects while in flight

The birds are about 5 inches long and look somewhat like a cigar. Each year our village celebrates their arrival with music, food concessions, a story teller, and a general turn out of local folks who chat and talk about previous year celebrations and of course the latest scuddlebutt in town.


This year we a had a folk/country singer who entertained us through out the evening. Sometimes the local school bands will play or local groups.

Each year I ask the 5th grade art class to draw pictures of their intrepretation of the Swift's arrival. This year they worked together on one larger poster. This was hung where it could be seen by those attending the affair.

The Boy Scouts sold Fried Dough and Pop corn was sold by the Civic Association