If you have noticed the sounds of birds chirping from your chimney, you may be sharing your home with a family of chimney swifts. Since so many trees are being cut down for construction and development purposes, birds like chimney swifts are frequently mistaking chimneys for trees and choosing them as nesting sites. The problem with chimney swifts is they cannot be removed from your chimney as they are protected by federal law. This means the best way to avoid these birds nesting in your chimney is to prevent them from ever entering your chimney at all. Since 1978, Winston’s Chimney Service has been dealing with birds in the chimneys of residents of the Washington, DC area, and we would like to tell you more about these birds and how we can keep them out of your chimney.
What are chimney swifts?
Identifiable by their cigar-shaped bodies, chimney swifts are very beneficial birds because they eat hundreds of pesky insects everyday. They build cup-shaped nests at the top of the flue with sticks and their saliva, which are too small to block your flue, but should be removed after they leave in the fall. While their chirping sounds can be noisy at times, chimney swifts typically do not cause other annoyances. They generally arrive in the mid-spring and stay around until mid-September when they fly back to their winter homes in South America.
What law protects these birds?
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects chimney swifts and other migratory birds to keep these species from dying out. This federal law makes it illegal to move chimney swifts, so when you have a family of chimney swifts in your flue, you will have to wait until the fall when they will leave on their own. If you need help dealing with chimney swifts in the summer, the Chimney Swift Conservation Association offers advice to homeowners that can be very helpful.
How can Winston’s Chimney Service prevent chimney swifts from getting into my chimney?
We offer a wide variety of chimney caps that are equipped with mesh metal sides that will prevent birds, squirrels, raccoons, and other animals from entering your chimney. We can professionally install a chimney cap on the top of your chimney to prevent chimney swifts from being able to nest in your chimney ever again. Without one of these caps on top of your chimney, it is an easy entrance for wild animals.
Protect your chimney from birds, squirrels, raccoons, and other wild animals getting inside to nest. Contact us at Winston’s Chimney Service to find out more about our chimney cap sales and installation services.
