September 19, 2025 3:50 a.m. 

Migrating Vaux’s Swifts are returning to Roseburg, just in time for a local group of bird lovers to set up “Swift Watch” events this Friday and next Friday evening.

A City of Roseburg release said about 1,000 of the birds began showing up earlier this week in Fir Grove Park, where they are roosting for the night in the chimney of the Clay Place studio, adjacent to the Umpqua Valley Arts Center, off West Harvard Avenue.

Umpqua Valley Audubon Society board member and past president Diana Wales said, “I am delighted, I am mystified by what’s going on”. Wales said, “I love nature. It is so unpredictable. No matter how much we think we know, we don’t know enough. There’s always something to learn”.

The local Audubon Society had given up hope of witnessing the spectacle of the birds’ seasonal migration this year and had earlier announced that “Swift Watch” would not be held in Roseburg this autumn. That was after no large flocks of swifts had been seen in Roseburg since UVAS members began watching at the start of August.

While there are several chimneys around town where 200 to 300 birds roosted in the past, the largest group would stop overnight at the Clay Place chimney in both the spring and the fall. In fact, they’ve roosted there during migrations each spring and fall for at least 50 to 60 years. Three years ago, the swifts abandoned that chimney.

Now that the birds are back, “Swift Watch” events have returned to the schedule. They are presented by the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society and Roseburg Parks and Recreation. They will take place on both Fridays at 6:30 p.m. Organizers encourage people to bring a folding chair, camp chair or blanket, or just watch from their cars.

Swifts usually enter the chimney at sunset, which will be at 7:15 p.m. this week and just after 7:00 p.m. next Friday. The birds could roost earlier or later, depending on the weather.

For more information, contact UVAS at: info@umpquaaududon.org.