We made to Chaetura Canyon!

 

We walked around the most amazing property I’ve let eyes upon and the hike was rainy, but fun.

Squad for the day

At 5pm on September 20, a group of 11 individuals and their professor took a van to Chaetura Canyon. It was a rainy day and the drive was pretty long, with lots of traffic, but we eventually arrived at our destination!

The trip started off with us being introduced to Paul and Georgean Kyle. As we entered the 15 acres of land, trails dispersed left and right – all leading to one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have had the pleasure of seeing. Their house was a work of art that Paul and Georgean had created by hand. Our class flooded into the wooden house as we were very graciously greeted at the door. Once inside the house we took a quick restroom break and then went on a nice hike through a mild rain storm. We borrowed walking sticks, coats, and binoculars and headed down the trail. The more we walked the more fascinated we became! There were chimneys everywhere we looked- all constructed by Paul and Georgean.  Overall the hike was actually super fun and very calm and relaxing regardless of the rain. The trails were very well maintained and the information they gave us about their land was very intriguing. For one, they have no invasive species on 15 acres of land – that’s mind blowing!

Different chimney designs that they tested out for the swifts.

After the hike, we came back to the main house for snacks and a presentation about Chimney Swifts. In that presentation we learned about how the Chimney Swifts only create one nest per chimney when they are raising young.  They build their next out of sticks and glue it together with their saliva. Georgean actually discovered that the saliva of the swifts is the only way that the baby chicks could survive. It’s a main ingredient for both their nests and for the survival of their young!  The birds that are not nesting and raising young all like to be clustered together, with 100s roosting in one chimney. They are essentially a large family within the actual chimney!

We finished up the afternoon by counting chimney swifts as they flew into the chimney to roost at night, which was just the perfect finish to a great afternoon. We were reminded once again why people go above and beyond for environmental conservation and just what difference we can make in the world.

 

Chimney Swift chimney

At Chaetura Canyon we were able to see the wonders of private land management at work as Paul and Georgean have no invasive species on the vast majority of their 15 acre sanctuary. Since they started their conservation and restoration work they’ve seen many native species return to their land and begin to flourish. At the same time we were able to hear how taxing private management can be as Georgean told us that after 19 years of hand-feeding abandoned baby Swifts she developed carpal tunnel syndrome which she had to have surgery for. The Kyle’s told us how they would often put a down payment of a few cents or dollars on land around them so they could slowly pay for land when it became available because it would be all they could afford at the time. However, after donating the land to the Travis Audubon Society with the agreement that they could live on and manage the land until they die, the Kyle’s have been able to grow the sanctuary from their original 8 acres into 15 acres with the financial support of donors. Our hope is that once Travis Audubon takes over the management of the sanctuary, there is someone as enthusiastic about the conservation and restoration of the land and the swifts as the Kyle’s are to manage the land!

Photos by Shirley  Ochoa

P.S. Somebody please return vulture skull!