By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
Three years ago, two Yachats men started building birdhouses for migrating swallows. Today, their organization — Swallows In Flight To Yachats, SWIFTY — is soaring (or flying high, if you insist) by helping swallows, Purple Martins and other bird species to survive and thrive.
Now working with government and private groups on 11 project sites, SWIFTY has expanded impressively and effectively. With a handful of volunteers led by Jim Welch and Wally Orchard, SWIFTY has helped place nesting boxes all over Lincoln County.
The boxes help vulnerable bird populations to rest, nest and reproduce during the Oregon spring. Later on, they’ll undertake long journeys — in some cases up to 8,000 miles — to return to their warm-weather homes.
“Swallows are graceful; it’s fun to watch their aerial maneuvers,” says Orchard. “They’re like jet fighters” as they dive and swoop to catch airborne insects.
And the demand for housing is strong. Orchard and Welch put up their first box in an open meadow in Yachats’ Quiet Water subdivision where they live. The next one went up 25 yards away, and “They were waiting for us — a nesting pair swooped right in and made themselves at home.”
The duo’s work was inspired by Paul Thompson, another Yachats resident who monitors and maintains swallow boxes on the Tami Wagner Wildlife Area six miles up the Yachats River. While SWIFTY began by supporting Tree and Violet-Green swallows, the group expanded last year to benefit another swallow, Purple Martins. Recently, ducks and owls were added to the list of species helped.
Question: Why do you put so much time and effort into helping birds?
Welch: We really have to draw attention to the foundations of life here. Many birds are dependent on insects for food, and due to climate change, pesticides and the destruction of habitat, the numbers of insects are declining. If there are no insects, there are no birds, so no pollinators for plants and flowers. Of all the wild things out there, birds are the easiest to appreciate. We can put up feeders and enjoy them from our homes. This leads to a desire to help them, and in doing so, we help the planet
Orchard: We’re all connected. We can’t let part of the environment suffer without it affecting us. If bird populations are mounting, that’s a good sign. But a lot of species are in decline, and that’s not good news for humans.
Q: What groups is SWIFTY now working with?
Orchard: We work with the cities of Yachats and Waldport, Lincoln County, Oregon State Parks, Hatfield Marine Science Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, two watershed agencies, and the Port of Alsea. Locations for nesting boxes include the Yachats River Valley, Beaver Creek State Park, Beaver Creek Valley, Ona Beach and South Beach State Parks and the Siletz National Wildlife Refuge. This year, we’re also beginning a relationship with The Wetlands Conservancy, which has an easement on the north shore of Alsea Bay.
Welch: Each year we go into new directions. We’re associated now with the Audubon Society of Lincoln City. And, we’ve been in touch with the Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene to talk about ospreys. We’re going to be rebuilding the osprey platform in the park behind the Yachats Commons so we can attract these fish-eating birds, which are Oregon’s state raptor.
Q: We understand you were also involved with a population survey of Purple Martin nesting pairs in the county. How did that go?
Orchard: Last year we helped conduct a survey with Eric Horvath of Newport, who leads birding trips to South America and the Galapagos Islands. It was also the first year we started building and installing boxes for Purple Martins. Of the 142 pairs recorded, 102 were on the Yaquina River, 17 on the Siletz, 19 on the Alsea and four on Devil’s Lake.
Welch: Along the way, we discovered that the Klamath Bird Observatory in Ashland has been tracking the Western Purple Martin in the first study of its kind. The observatory discovered that these beautiful birds migrate all the way to southeastern Brazil — a journey of 8,000 miles one way.
Q: What kind of community support has SWIFTY received?
Welch: A number of people have donated money, materials and time to help SWIFTY do its work. We’d especially like to mention Liz and Layne Morrill, developer of the Fisterra Townhome project in Yachats. Also, for an auction fundraiser last year for the Audubon Society of Lincoln City, we got gift certificates from many local businesses, including the Drift Inn, the Adobe, Styx, Stones & Bones, the Sea-Note, the Underground Pub, the Silver Surf motel, Luna Sea and the Yachats Inn.
Q: How can people learn more about helping birds?
Welch: One great way will be by attending Yachats’ first, very own “Wild Thing Festival” Saturday, May 11. This will be a family fun event with music, workshops, nature walks, tide pool adventures, bird and bee houses and more. It’s sponsored by the Yachats Chamber of Commerce. A year ago, I sent a proposal to the chamber and now it’s coming together. The festival is built on the eclectic nature of Yachats, sort of like the stepchild of the La de da parade. It’s planned to be an annual event; watch for details as we get closer to May 11.
Orchard: We also urge anyone interested to attend a talk in May sponsored by the Yachats Academy of Arts & Sciences. Sarah Rockwell of the Klamath Bird Observatory will talk about the group’s historic study to track Western Purple Martins throughout their annual migration cycle. She will be speaking at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at the Commons.
Tell us a secret.
Welch: Birds can be very playful. Swallows will drop feathers for each other to play “fetch.”
Orchard: They’ll actually take feathers out of your hand.
- Swallows In Flight To Yachats. For more visit the SWIFTY website.
- “5 Questions and a Secret” appears every other week on YachatsNews. Have a suggestion for a subject? Send your ideas to YachatsNews@gmail.com
- Cheryl Romano is a Yachats freelance reporter who contributes regularly to YachatsNews.com. She can be reached at Wordsell@gmail.com
What a wonderful project this is — an indirect connection to save the earth. My thanks go to people who care.
Great project! I used to see many more swallows in Newport & north Newport then I do now–maybe some Newport residents will be interested in setting up some boxes. I’d like one in my backyard if it would attract swallows to nest–I used to see some swallows in my neighborhood, the number I see has dwindled as more houses, etc, have been built but perhaps they’d come back if they had nesting places. I’ve bookmarked the Swifty website.