Customer Reviews

Chimney Swift Towers: New Habitat for America's Mysterious Birds (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series)

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Kyle and Georgean have put together "the book" on how to build a chimney swift tower. What I especially love about this book is that they provide a numb er of different designs - three different types of wooden towers as well as different types of masonry/cement block towers - so you have options. There are pictures - photographs and drawings throughout to help with the building and the materials/instructions are very clear. I haven't convinced my husband to build one (yet)and we already have swifts in our chimney but I am working with a local park and some eagles scouts to put one up. Another thing I really like about this book is that it goes beyond just putting up a swift tower. It also gives guidance on monitoring the tower (to include electronic monitoring like putting a camera inside) and report forms. It also has great pictures so that at a park, for example, you can create an educational evironment as well. Another neat thing is to also host a "swift night out" in the fall, where people gather to watch the swifts (babies all fledged and practicing their flight maneuvers)as they fly around the tower, dive in and more. Its so amazing to see them flying at incredible speeds and then dive into the chimney or tower. What a sight. I've also ready that when the young are learning to fly, if one is having trouble, the adults will flying in circles below them, creating an updraft to help lift them higher. They are such amazing birds, deserving of our attention and preservation. This book really helps us not only provide a nesting site but also opportunities for our own education.....as the saying goes....we conserve what we love, we love what we understand, we understand what we are taught.

good book about Chimney swifts, their habitat loss and constructing "Chimneys" for them to raise young in. The book describes the construction of these small towers using modern methods and materials. I think this book will be the definitive Chimney Swift work of our time. Buy it and build a tower. You and these gregarious little flying insect eaters will be better for it. Watching Chimney swifts reminds me greatly of watching a Quiditch match as described in the Harry Potter books.

I found this book to be very informative and easy to follow if you decide to build a Chimney Swift tower. I built my tower in March 2007 so that I can attract the Swifts to control flying insects like mosquitos and I am still waiting for my first Swift to take residence. My neighbors were very curious about what I was building and I enjoyed educating them about the value of Chimney Swifts. I am sure the Swifts will find the tower eventually.