Q. The old Washtenaw County Garage (I think) across the street from the YMCA has been demolished except for the chimney which is home to chimney swifts. It is beloved by Ann Arbor birders. Is the chimney being preserved and, I hope, being incorporated into whatever future development might occur?
A. Originally, swifts nested in cavities in old-growth trees, When the trees were lost to logging, the birds adapted to chimneys like the one on W. Washington (which originally served a coal furnace). Today chimneys are essential to the swifts’ survival.
Swifts live an incredible lifestyle. When a young bird leaves the nest for the first time it will spend up to three years in constant flight, eating, sleeping, and bathing in midair.
When they do land, swifts cannot perch on tree limbs like other birds, because their foot shape can only cling to vertical surfaces. The loss of large chimneys for roosting is one reason that this species is in steep decline, losing more than 70 percent of its population in the last fifty years. Swifts can’t access capped or metal chimneys, and older buildings with suitable chimneys are being torn down.
Related: For the Birds
A group of swifts is called a “scream.” According to the City of Ann Arbor’s website, an August 2018 survey estimated that at least 1,400 were living in the chimney at 415 W. Washington. That year, city council directed the city administrator to evaluate preservation of the chimney. It was left alone when the other structures at 415 W. Washington were demolished, and future developers will be required to preserve the chimney.
When that might happen is unclear. Many proposals for the site’s reuse have been floated since the city moved operations to the Wheeler Service Center on Ellsworth Rd. in 2007, but none has come to fruition. After the city’s most recent plan for the site fell through last summer, it hired a commercial realtor in hopes of finally getting new housing built there—while also protecting the chimney that houses the swifts.
Got a question? Email question@aaobserver.com.
